And Ezekiel Jones' Brilliantly Awesome Plan
by TheSingingPterodactyl
Summary: Ezekiel Jones had a plan, a plan that required subtly, excellent and concise tactics, and a whole lot of luck. Good thing he was made of luck. This plan was brilliant, it was awesome, and it might just be the hardest task he has ever had to face. That's right, Ezekiel Jones was going to get Cassandra Cillian and Jacob Stone together at last.
1. Romance and Religion

_A/N: So, after reading something about Ezekiel being a shipper, I got this idea. I love Ezekiel, so much, him and his flawed self, so writing this has been a blast._

 _It takes place in season 3, and the final chapter will be my own ending to the season. Everything they do in the chapters though will revolve around made up missions of theirs. I hate making up plots for what already happened. I've written a good portion already, and the end, but I have no idea how many chapters I might actually write. Depends on you guys, I guess. :)  
This chapter is short - the rest will be longer. This one just had to be split up in pieces. Ideally, every chapter or so there will be a new mission while Ezekiel is trying to get them together in a new way. Enjoy!_

 _Disclaimer: If I owned The Librarians there would be a whole lot more Jassandra in the show, just sayin'. No copyright intended._

* * *

You know, sometimes people are just destined for greatness. Whether those people acknowledge that greatness is always up to them – but for me, I always knew I was made to be great. From the time I was born, I was more than great – I was awesome. I can just see everyone rolling their eyes now – but it's only because they don't see it. They don't see just how truly awesome I am. And you know what? I'm gonna show 'em.

"Jones," Stone was looking up from his book, an irate expression on his face. "Shut up."

"What? I can't express my feelings? I see how it is. Cassandra can talk all she likes, but oh, if Jones starts to speak…"

"That's not-" Stone growled, adjusting himself up some, his body tenser due to the anger he felt towards me. I love it when I get him all worked up. "It has nothing to do with you just generally speaking, Jones. It's the fact that you've been giving all of us a monologue about how amazing you think you are for the past thirty minutes!"

"And what's wrong with that?"

Stone started to shout again, but instead clamped his mouth shut and slammed his book closed; a glare gracing me as he went. He grumbled under his breath as he left the room, saying something like, "find somewhere with peace and quiet". I smiled to myself and looked over, seeing Cassandra scanning through old equations for magic of something – whatever math nerds do. Or, math nerds who love magic … Mathmagicians. Brilliant.

"You really shouldn't be so mean, you know." Cassandra spoke up.

I smirked, looking her way. "I have no idea what you could possibly mean."

Cassandra looked at me with a knowing look and a tweaked brow. "Why are you purposely trying to irritate him anyway?"

"Eh, I figured if I bothered him enough I could finally get him to leave."

Now Cassandra was looking at me with an appalled look. She was always too nice to ever _fully_ understand me. One of the reasons we all love her.

"Why?"

"Because." I answered, not actually answering anything. I had a plan – but that of course involved not having Stone here at the time being.

"Right," she chuckled. "Makes perfect sense."

It really did.

See, as I was previously explaining – I'm awesome. Sometimes, awesome people are just so awesome that nothing can fully satisfy their need to do something with their oh-so-brilliant mind. Not even pizza, or causing senseless mischief, or tampering with all of Jenkin's precious artifacts, yes even all of those can't keep my brilliant mind at bay. That's right, sometimes awesome people just like me can get _bored_. To fix this unsolvable problem is to, of course, do something even more interacting and entertaining than playing with my countless video games – and something I've never done before. After a few minutes of considering what it could possibly be earlier, I decided… match making. Why not, yeah? Might be fun.

"Ezekiel?" Cassandra said, looking at me worried. "You okay?"

I looked at her with a grin. "Yeah, I'm awesome."

She looked at me a little funny and then nodded. "Okay."

"You know, Red," I started. She looked at me, almost looking to be expecting the worst. "You're pretty awesome, too."

Cassandra just beamed. "Well, thank you, Ezekiel."

"You know who else is pretty awesome? Or, maybe just an okay awesome, that is."

She shrugged. "Who?"

"Jacob Stone. Don't ya agree?"

Cassandra blushed a little, and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so." She then avoided all eye contact and looked down at her mathmagician stuff.

Ezekiel Jones really was brilliant. Why? Because he had a theory – a theory he had to test (without Stone hearing him calling him awesome, of course). He had a hunch that Cassandra Cillian was in love, and that hunch had just been confirmed - sort of. One of his best friend was in love with the cowboy, seemed about right.

It was subtle, and he didn't think even Baird had noticed anything out of the ordinary. But ever since they had come back from their mission in the snow and what not they've acted different around each other – and Cassandra has been doing a lot of blushing. _A lot_. So, it was now his job to do something about it.

He had to be subtle, had to ease into it – none of his usual blunt tactics. If he wasn't careful, if he embarrassed either of them too much, he would suffocate the flame. Cassandra hated being in the spotlight and Stone … well he hated being humiliated. One bad experience, one mistake too public, and he could force them to be completely against the new idea of _them_ before he could even make them be a _them_.

Yes, this might just be the toughest challenge Ezekiel Jones had ever faced.

Then, Cassandra and I heard the clipping book shuffle around. We gave each other a look, and went towards the book. "Baird!" I shouted. "New mission!"

Baird came walking in the room a few minutes after, coat ready as she tied up her hair. "Where is it?"

Cassandra pursed her lips and made a 'umm'. "Utah, weirdly enough."

Stone was coming down the stairs now, entering the main room of the annex. Cassandra just seemed to brighten up when he entered. "What's this one about?"

"Little too vague to say." Cassandra answered. "But, apparently there's missing people involved."

"Ah," I said, crossing my arms across my chest. "Isn't there always?"

"Don't make jokes about missing people, Jones." Baird griped.

"It's not really a joke when it's true, mate." She of course glared back at me.

"Jenkins?" Baird called.

He came popping up out of nowhere with a book in his hand, glasses on his nose. "New adventure to undertake?"

Cassandra ooed. "He makes it sound so exciting." She raised her shoulders a bit in excitement. I watched, and there it was. Stone, standing right next to her (extremely close, I might add), gave her a hidden, but endearing smile. It was just at her, nothing no one was supposed to see. I only saw it because I, the awesomely observant one, was looking for it.

This was good entail, but not enough. Before I try anything, I need to be sure that Stone's feelings are the same as Casandra's – if they aren't, well I can figure that out if I get there. However, I have little doubt I ever will.

Before I knew it Baird had opened the back door, a new portal to jump through awaiting us. Utah – Salt Lake City to be exact. I never really thought religion and romance went hand and hand, but I suppose it'll have to do.

* * *

 _Reviews are like hot British tea._

 _I love hot British tea._


	2. Questions and Eating

_A/N: Sorry for the late update - I've had this ready to post, I just haven't had any time today. Thank you guys so much for the Reviews, follows, and favorites! I hope you enjoy this chapter._

 _This chapter skips from first person to third person back and forth near the end. Sorry if it gets confusing, it was just the only way to have Cassandra and Jacob's POV while Ezekiel wasn't in the conversation._

* * *

We were on a mission, we were looking for clues, and Stone and I were split up from Cassandra and Baird. It actually wasn't on purpose, like most of Baird's 'splitting up to cover more ground' schemes are set up to be. No, this one was a unexpected accident – due to a wall in an ancient, underground city tumbling down between us. Yup, there was an ancient, underground city underneath Salt Lake City. Where a piece of the ceiling suddenly became a wall. We'll talk about that another time, point is – it was just me and Jacob. Now I could put this theory I have to the test.

"So, Stone," I started.

He raised a brow at me and grunted out a, "What?" He wasn't too happy about being split up. Which is understandable, considering we have no idea if Cassandra and Baird have a way of getting out of there. We can just go out the way we came, but they were trapped on the _other_ side of the cave-like ruins. Right, get back on track, Ezekiel.

"Worried about Cassandra and Baird, huh?"

Stone looked at me with a furrowed brow. "Yeah, Jones. I'm worried for their safety – like anyone with normal feelings would do."

I should probably take offense to that. "I feel like I should take offense to that."

"Wonder where you got that idea from."

He was a tad crabby – probably from lack of Casandra. "Seem a bit on edge there, Jakey."

"Don't call me Jakey."

"Whatever you say … Jakey."

He growled. Okay so I wasn't really helping my cause much, but irritating him was just so much fun. "So, who would you say you were worried for the most?"

Stone stopped in his tracks. "Who … what?"

"Cassandra or Baird? Whose safety are you worried for more? I mean, mine would be Cassie – just because Baird is used to taking care of herself. Plus, being the _guardian_ and all that stuff. Anyway, you?"

He just looked at me like I was crazy and kept walking. He was a tougher shell to crack than Casandra, that was for sure. I had to try again, but something different. "So, if you were stuck on an island with either Cassandra or Baird, who would you pick?"

Stone wagged his head but seemed to start giving into my nonsense as he said, "Why're you not an option?"

I scoffed. "I think we both know you would never pick me, mate."

His face showed that he seemed to agree. "And Flynn?"

I shrugged. "Eh. When is Flynn _actually_ 'round enough to get stuck on an island with us?"

"All right, fine, then Cassandra."

Ding, ding, ding! That wasn't enough though – who wouldn't pick Casandra? "Good choice, mate. Can I ask why?"

"Don't know," he looked fairly confused now. Not really sure if the confusion is due to his sudden realization of choice, because I'm just that awesome, or because of my strange questions. Probably should go with the ladder – but the first one is always a possibility. "'Cause she's Casandra. What 'bout you?"

"Well, logically speaking I would pick Baird. Baird knows tactical and survival traits I know literally nothing about. But honestly, I'd pick Casandra. I mean, every time I'd get upset about being stuck on a bloody island she'd probably like, make me a sandwich or something. Plus, she's got magic, so that's always a win."

Stone scoffed a little. I forgot, him and magic is a touchy subject. He then spoke up, "I need to call Jenkins. I bet he could open up the back-door for Cassie and Baird."

Okay, so new topic. We were getting away from Casandra. "Good idea, you should do that. But first, new question. If you could marry either Baird or Casandra, who would it be?" I scolded myself the moment it came out of my mouth. This might be what Baird means when she yells at me, _'Subtlety, Ezekiel!'_

"Hold your horses," we stopped, Stone just looking at me like I was crazy again. But he also had a slight hint of suspicion in his eyes. "What's with all these questions? Do you," he hesitated, like it was a sensitive subject. "Do you have a _thing_ for Cassandra or somethin'?"

 _What?!_ Me, Ezekiel Jones? Yuck. She was like a sister to me. Besides, just a bit old. I mean, maybe not as old as Baird, but still – ancient compared to me. I almost said aloud the same thing I just thought – but then, I held my tongue, and I realized something. What would trigger Stone's fancy for Cassie more than the best known emotion? Jealousy!

"No, me? I - Whaaat … what if I did? Like her, just a bit? Would that make you feel pretty angry, or just your normal Grumpy Bear self?"

"Well, I…" he was really a loss for words. That's good. All of his expressions were micro expressions of jealousy, anger. Perfect, just what the doctor ordered - that's me, being the doctor. "You just a week ago say Cassandra and me could pass for Senior Discounts, Jones."

"That's … how I show my true feelings. With harsh and childish words." C'mon, you can do better than that. "Yup, I'm just like a little child, shoving his crush off the slide ... or something like that." He seemed whole heatedly confused, but also completely enraged. Brilliant.

"So you're just going to go around and treat Cassandra like she's insignificant just 'cause you find her amazing?" The tone in his voice, it was almost threatening. This was great!

I shrugged. "Think you're puttin' words in my mouth there, Jakey. I mean, I wouldn't really say I found her _amazing_."

Ah, the good ol' Jake glare. "You're kidding me now, right? That woman is one of the most amazin' people you will ever meet – she's a dang Librarian, Jones!" I shrugged again, just to see his anger seem to boil even hotter. "You can't just go 'round sayin' you have feelings for her and then act as if she ain't something special."

"Why not?"

"Because that's -! That's just not how it works, Jones!" He swung his hands in the air, like he always did when he was angry. "Cassandra deserves better than that, she…" He never finished that sentence.

Protective, jealous, seemingly head over heels… seems about right. "What're you gonna do about it?"

"What am I-?" He chuckled out of irony. "I can show you what I'll-"

"Ya know, you're right, mate. She is too old for me – she's probably right up your ally though, yeah? Maybe you wouldn't have to live your _whole_ life completely alone and miserable." I patted him on the shoulder and moved on down the tunnel; Stone confusingly walking closely behind.

Seems to me Ezekiel Jones had to start getting the next phase of the plan up and running – Phase Casob. No, no he needed to work on that. But still, you get the point. Awesomeness, as always.

* * *

We had found each other, we found the problem, we needed to investigate it, and Baird was barking up orders again. The reunion was rather anti-climactic, really. Not any hugging, which caused bumps for my plans. Now she was telling us what to look for as we searched so-and-so places. I wasn't really listening of course – I knew enough of what was happening to figure it out.

"We need to split up – cover more ground." Here it came, the usual teaming up. "Stone, you go with Jones to …" she went on. No, no, no, no. That's all wrong. Jake needed to go with Casandra. "Casandra, you can come with me. We'll …"

Guess he had to fix this too, like he always did. They really should thank him more often. "Actually, Baird," everyone looked at me confused. "I think Cassandra should go with Stone."

They all raised their brows. Baird said, "Okay … Why?"

"Yeah, Ezekiel. What're you up to?" Cassandra whispered to me. She may have already been catching on to my brilliance – but that's to be expected. Casandra's too smart to not catch on.

"I just think, from past experience, we are all more helpful and valuable to the team when I go with you, and Stone and Cassandra go their own way." Baird was actually considering it. "Besides, Stone just wants to punch me when I go with him."

That all got them on my side. Baird nodded and gave an agreeing expression. "Can't argue with that. Okay, for Jones' safety and Stone's blood pressure, Cassandra and Stone – you go figure out what the source of this …"

I stopped listening again. What's the point? I have Baird, she'll do all the thinking now. Anyway, I was planning on ditching Baird at one point to follow Cassandra and Stone. I really need a name for them … Casone? No, that's just weird. He'd have to work on that one. But for now, I needed an excuse to follow the two of them.

"Great, you guys have fun. Baird?"

She looked at me expectantly. "Yes, Jones?"

"Gotta use the little boys room. Be back in a jiff. But please, don't feel like you need to wait on me – by all means," I placed one hand on my heart and the other on her shoulder. "You can go ahead, and I will try my best to catch up."

"You're in an odd mood today, Jones." She said, heading out to go find whatever she was finding.

She had no idea. He, Ezekiel Jones, was doing the oddest thing he had ever done in his life, now thinking of it. I'm trying to bring happiness to my closest friends. I'm actually being … _selfless_. Ha! I really am awesome.

Now, where did they actually go? See, this might've been a flaw in my plan. Listen to know where to _follow_. After peeking over a few corners, I finally spotted Casandra's bright red hair walking down the side walk, Jacob by her side. Now came the _plan_.

* * *

Cassandra and Jacob walked down the streets of Salt Lake City, both with plenty of things on their minds. They both have been dealing with the weird actions and comments of Jones, making them think a little more than they'd like to about some personal affairs – oh and there was destruction and mayhem everywhere, too. Then, then he made it a point to send them off together – if they were in somewhere like Rome they might be more suspicious than they already were.

Then, on top of that, Cassandra and Baird were almost trapped to their doom – and all Stone could think was what he'd do without Cassandra on the team (thanks to Ezekiel's comments). They had gotten pretty close ever since the team reunited, and he didn't realize it, but he'd grown rather fond of Cassandra, or possibly even … more. But that's impossible, right? Feelings, for Cassie?

Cassandra was just staying as quiet as a mouse. It was better that way – she hated thinking whatever she might say might lead the conversation to somewhere… weird. Cassandra has honestly _always_ had feelings for Jacob – she was surprised not more people than Jones had noticed. The moment he caught her in their first mission, after an episode, and he helped her find a way through the visions – she was head over heels. Time had gone by though, and she became more realistic. Jacob wasn't interested, clearly. She actually never knew anyone had ever caught on, that was until today in the library. Ezekiel had revealed his discovery, and now seems to be up to something mischievous. Something involving her and Stone. Who knows what he's said to Stone, oh gosh… She prayed he didn't tell him how she felt.

It was impossible – didn't Ezekiel see that? Jacob didn't trust her. He stopped trusting her just as fast as she started liking him. She broke his trust, and she wasn't sure if there was any way to ever fix that. She glanced over at Jacob, only to see he was watching her. Making eye contact, they awkwardly smiled at each other and then looked away. Why was he staring at her? Ezekiel must've told him something…

Jacob of course was caught staring – he didn't even realize he was staring until they suddenly made eye contact. Stinkin' Jones, this was his fault. Cassandra and him were perfectly content until he had to start sticking his nose into things.

Stone decided to speak. "I," he cleared his throat. "I um, I'm glad you're okay."

Cassandra looked at him with a warming smile. "Thank you." Her voice was so timid, but sweet. She chuckled a little before saying, "Me too."

Stone gave her a smile, a smile that reached all the way to his eyes. "You guys had me worried there, for a little while."

"Yeah, well," she shrugged, scrunching up her nose. "I had Baird. I knew there was nothing to worry about with her around. I was really more worried for you – you had to deal with Ezekiel and his nagging." She chuckled a little, nervous about what really might've been said.

"Ha," Stone chuckled some. "Yeah, he's been real … fun, today."

Cassandra raised her eyes brows and sighed. "That's a word for it, yeah." They laughed some, and then Cassandra realized there was still a mission – despite Ezekiel's weird behavior. "So … where are we going exactly?"

Stone explained, but honestly Cassandra didn't listen to one word. All she could think about was how humiliated she would be if Jones ratted her out – and, well, how handsome Stone looked. She really had to start paying closer attention - to what was being said, _not_ Jacob's face. Or his arms. Or his- _Focus, Cassandra._

Stone had listened to Baird's instructions, and he knew where they were headed. Only problem was that while explaining where they were headed, he realized he had no clue where they were. This wasn't like him at all. What was wrong with him? It was Cassandra – she somehow has become a major distraction for him. Jones, that sneaky son of a –

"Gosh, I'm starved." Cassandra spoke up, breaking Jacob from his thoughts. "I just realized I must've skipped lunch today."

"Well that ain't healthy – wanna stop by a place, on our way there?"

"No, I mean, could we? I'd hate to be pushing it on time – but I do think my stomach has rapidly started eating itself." She said with a slight giggle.

Jacob grinned at her – he couldn't help it. "We got time. Last thing we need is a death of a Librarian, 'specially in such tragic circumstances."

Cassandra giggled again, but much louder than before. "Oh yes, I'm sure my face would cover all the news channels due to such a tremendous tragedy of our time."

He chuckled a little. In all honesty, though the world may not ever think so, Jacob would think so. "Worse than Elvis, or even Carrie Fisher."

She let out a full, blissful laugh now. "I almost said more than Jesus himself, but I realized I might be pushing my fame just a little too far there."

"Blasphemy." He teased her. "But, I couldn't really say I disagreed."

Did he just actually say that aloud? The way Cassandra looked, he must've said it. Cassandra was slightly blushing, a permanent smile plastered onto her face. At least she wasn't giving a bad response to his slip of the tongue. Oh, a restaurant – perfect subject changer.

"Well hey, how does Italian sound?"

Cassandra looked up at the restaurants sign, and then through the open window to see inside. "It sounds wonderful, but I sadly don't think I brought enough money with me for that."

"You like Italian?"

She beamed, nodding. "Might just be my favorite." She then turned, starting to walk down the side walk.

Jacob wasn't about to continue walking when he couldn't seem to control his mouth, and he and Cassie were both starved. Plus, the look on her face was worth it. He grabbed Cassandra's hand and twisted her back to the door. "It's on me." He smiled at her, tugging on her hand. "C'mon."

"No, Jacob, I couldn't."

"You can – 'cause talkin' 'bout food has got me realizing how hungry I am. And I ain't about to pass a golden opportunity to get myself some spaghetti, instead of some hamburger from McDonald's."

Cassandra bit her bottom lip, looking into the restaurant with desire. She got a whiff of what smelled like garlic bread and that was all she needed – Jacob _did_ insist, right? When he's determined about something there's no changing his mind. Plus, she was starved, and the sound of spaghetti was too hard to resist. Jacob opened the door for her and Cassandra practically leaped through, overly but understandably excited for the meal to come.

I watched from across the street, seeing the last flash of a smile on Stone's usually scowling face. I couldn't believe it. They were going to have Italian _without me_? Wait – though disappointing for me, this was good. Actually, this was great! They're practically on a date already! He hasn't even had to start up the second part of his brilliantly awesome plan and they're already flirting and eating expensive food, along with Stone taking the whole slice of the check.

I grinned and popped a chip in my mouth, or a french-fry as some might call it. A man had to eat. Picked some food up on the way. Suddenly, I felt my pocket vibrate. Baird. She had to be calling. I fished my cell out and there it was, Colonel Eve Baird's name written over my screen. I could practically see the face she was making right about now. I reluctantly answered, flinching as I pressed the speaker to my ear.

Didn't matter though – it was worth it. These chips were great!

* * *

 _If you haven't noticed yet, Ezekiel's "plan" is basically to just get them together - and how he does that depends on his mood. Next chapter they move on from this mission. It's called "_ Slingshots and Daisies _". Hope you guys liked this chapter! Leave a review, they are what keep me updating. :)_


	3. Slingshots and Daisies

_A/N: So raise your hand if you feel like last nights episode made you lose all faith in the writers and giving the fans what they want. I guess that gives me all the more reason to write this story, right? Give us that glimmer of hope of Jassandra we all need.  
_ _This chapter is really on it's own. Next chapter will probably have around three parts to it. Enjoy!_

* * *

We saved the world and what not. Apep came at one point – bringing lots of destruction. Turns out he was trying to ruin a city of religion against their own religion – almost worked, too. Oh, did I forget to mention? Yeah, the worlds ending apparently – something about being consumed of darkness or somethin'. Flynn has a flare for the dramatic so I usually don't listen too often. Point is, we came home alive – what matters right? But now, because of that, a few days have passed without a plan being seen through. Without _the_ oh so brilliantly awesome plan – seemed things needed to change then, didn't they?

Let's see. They got lunch, though they never mentioned that to anyone. Probably because if they told Baird she'd yell at them for 'lollygagging on the job', and if they told me – well I've clearly made them feel enormously awkward about the other, so I doubt they'll give me even a mention of it. – Wait … Jacob would never in a million years, but Cassie … he might just have himself another awesome plan. Of sorts. Wow, who knew someone could think of so many incredibly brilliant plans in one week. Oh, that's right, I did.

"Cassandra," I said, sliding in the seat beside her, causing her to flinch.

She gave me a tolerant and forced smile. I could already tell she wasn't having a good morning. "Ezekiel."

"You okay? Seem a bit … out of character this morning."

"Me?" She shrugged, looking down at her formulas. "I'm fine."

"Sure? 'Cause you're out of your usual spirits and-"

"And what are my usual spirits, Jones?" She snapped at me. Okay, she really wasn't acting right.

I frowned, backing up a little. "Well, not this, that's for sure."

She looked at me and her face fell. Her shoulders loosened and she let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, Ezekiel. I'm just not in the best of moods – I have a head cold. My head is _killing_ me."

"I gotcha, Red." I tried not to smirk – this was actually sorta perfect. Not for Cassie now, but in the future it'll be great for her. "Anything I can do to help?"

She gave me a soft smile and shook her head. "No, but thank you. So, what did you need?"

"Well, I was thinking about where I could take Cindy out, right?"

She brightened at that. "Oh! Yes, tell me more."

I snickered at her excitement. Too bad it was all made up. "I was trying to figure out a good place to bring her, and I know she mentioned liking all kinds of pasta. So, I remembered that you had those Italian leftovers in the fridge a couple days ago. I wanted to know where you went, thought maybe I could bring her."

She blushed, biting her bottom lip. "Um, well, it's not anywhere close to here."

"Not a problem. Cindy lives pretty far out – I'd just use the back-door anyway."

She nodded, but said nothing. I gave her an expectant look and she gave in. "It's in Utah."

I raised a brow, even though I clearly already knew this. "Utah? When did that happen? I mean, last time the team went there was on a mission…" I scoffed. "Did you go out to eat on the job?" She bit her lip again. "I gotta admit, Red. Didn't expect it from you."

She huffed. "It was Jacob's idea."

I could tell she regretted saying that the moment it slipped out. I smirked, visibly, this time. "You and Stone? Went out to dinner?"

"Well, I – it was lunch, actually."

"And you didn't tell me you two went on a date? I'm hurt."

Cassandra slapped my arm at that. "It wasn't a date, thank you very much!" Her cute little flustered expressions always make my day. "We were hungry, so we got food."

I gave her a knowing look. "At a fancy Italian restaurant?"

"It was the closest place to eat."

"So you what? Sat down and shared a plate of spaghetti, until ya both accidentally picked up the same noodle – not realizing it 'till your lips met?"

" _Ezekiel_ ," She was so embarrassed. It was adorable. "No, it was nothing like Lady and the Tramp. It was _just lunch_."

"Right. And I'm just Australian." She rolled her eyes at me, deciding to just not respond. "All right, all right. So there's one way to tell if it _wasn't_ a date."

She looked interested, her eyes looking back up at me. "What's that?"

"If he paid for it all – refusing to let you pay for any of it." I eyed her. Cassandra's head fell into her papers. I could hear her groaning under her hair. "What I thought."

"I didn't bring enough money with me though," she looked up again. "He _had_ to pay."

"Did you offer to pay at least some?" I asked, she nodded. "Then sorry Cass, but it was a date." There was silence. I might as well keep up this whole 'interested in the place', right? "How was the restaurant?"

"It was ... really nice." She said with an almost sigh. "The food was terrific. They had beautiful lighting."

"Hmm," I chuckled. "Almost, romantic like?"

Cassandra shoved me over again and put her forehead back on the table. "Leave me alone." She said, muffled through all her papers. "I'm sick."

"Just for you, I'll leave the invalid be." I patted her head, knowing it irritated her. "Thanks for the input on the restaurant."

I heard a scoff. "You aren't even bringing Cindy out to dinner are you?"

I smirked, even though she couldn't see me. "Nope. See you later, Red."

I heard her groan a reply and I walked off to find Stone. Cassandra's favorite flowers were … sunflowers? I'd figure it out – with Jacob's help, obviously. Finding Stone was almost easier than finding Cassandra (who had a tendency to find a good hiding place and hide for hours), because Stone was always in the exact same place. If he wasn't in the same room with Cassandra, that is.

"Stone," I plopped in the seat beside him. We were in the History section of the Library – in the exact same table he always sits in, with his computer out and books sprawled everywhere. I'd say it was deja vu if I didn't know any better.

Stone eyes angled upwards in an almost glare. "What'd you want Jones?"

He was in a cranky mood, too. Figures. "Just thought you might need a hand is all, mate."

He raised a brow, straightening his spine to look at me more clearly. "With what?"

"With, ya know," I shrugged. "Stuff."

He scoffed. "Do ya even have a clue what I'm doing?"

"Well, I mean," I peeked over to see his open books. "You're working on research of the 18th century." I really hope I was at least close.

He growled. "Close. 17th. Baird asked for some data on this Apep guy of ours – records of a similar black type mist traces back all the way to the Egyptians. Stops in the 17th-"

"Yeah, yeah, that's great and all. Hey, now that you've mentioned it, you don't happen to know what Cassandra's favorite flower is, would ya?"

He stared at me for a long moment. "Nothing I just said had anything to do with Cassandra, Jones."

I gave a thinking face, then shrugged. "More flowers, really."

"I didn't mention one thing about-"

"Well, guess you don't know – seem strange, though, don't ya think? I mean, out of all of us, you know Cassandra best and-"

"Daisies." Stone said with a grunt, looking back at his books.

"Daisies, eh?" I settled forward in my seat and laid my arms on the table. "You know, she was telling me just the other day that whenever she wasn't feeling well, her brother would bring her some flowers home to her. She said it used to brighten her whole week. Pretty nice of the guy."

"Well, he was her brother." Stone replied, still looking down at his books. "Reckon he felt like he needed to make her feel better."

Why was he in a mood today? He was acting all broody and vampire like, all alone in this corner of the Library – he wasn't even in the same room with Cassandra. Wait, now to think of it, why wasn't he with Cassandra? They're always doing their research together – unless they had an argument or something… Cassandra and Stone, both cranky, and avoiding each other? Brilliant. Looks like he gets to fix another relationship problem. He might as well look into this as a profession.

"Right, right. Ya know, she's feeling a bit under the weather today. Said she had a headache. Probably from her brain grape –"

"Jones, I ain't in the mood for you and your games. Just get to the dang point. What'ya want?"

I sighed, leaning back in my seat. "All right, Cassandra's in a strange mood. And I haven't seen either of ya step foot in the same room since I walked in this morning – where the two of you seemed all tense and then left the room in separate directions."

"I don't think that's any of your dang business, Jones."

"That's true. But when is it ever?"

Stone grumbled and dropped his pen on the table. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and then said, "You ain't gonna leave me be, are you?"

I smirked. "Not a chance, mate."

He sighed. "We got in a fight, all right? We were here before anyone else this morning', and as we were making coffee she mentioned she had a headache. I assumed the headache was from her tumor, like you, so I _suggested_ she might want to go home and take it easy."

I winced. "Uh oh."

"As you can imagine, she didn't take it too well."

"I'm guessing you didn't happen to apologize?"

He looked like a mixture of confused and angry. "For what? For _caring_? I didn't want her to exhaust herself, so she just shouted at me for telling her what to do all the time."

I tried not to laugh – but the two of them always cracked me up. "Geesh, sorry there, mate. I think we all understand that Cassandra has a sensitive spot towards bossy people."

He glared at me. "Why am I even telling you all this?"

I chuckled through my nose. "Please, I think we both know there wasn't much of an option."

Stone gave a pitiful, defeated look. "I wasn't bossing her around. I was just - I worry for her dang health, and I get yelled at for that."

"And your way to show your concern is by telling her to go home and sit today out? C'mon, Stone, she hates that more than that movie Coraline."

He ran his hands through his hair. "I know." He took in a deep breath. "The argument didn't just stay on that one subject, either. There was stuff about her using magic, and my lack of compassion or emotions? I dunno, I remember callin' her overly sensitive at one point."

I whistled. "Sounds like you got a lot to apologize for, then."

Stone looked at me, releasing a heavy breath. "Can't believe I'm sayin' it, Jones, but you're right." He expelled out slight chuckle and then just sat there, continuing to read.

I eyed him. "You're not just saying that so I'll leave you alone, right?"

"I don't know," he looked at me, and then paused. "Did it work?"

Normally I would just stay there and annoy the hell out of him, but pre-angered Stone wasn't one to make even angrier. I learned that the hard way. I just stood up and walked into _my_ part of the Library – Jenkin's prized artifacts. I've been wanting to try out David's sling-shot for like a month now. It's going to be great.

I'll check on Red later. Maybe confront her about this argument she failed to mention to me about. But for now, sling-shot time.

* * *

I walked into the Annex, being shooed out of where I was thanks to Jenkins. He really needed to learn to loosen up. I capered down the stairs and landed to see Cassandra at her table, like before, but this time with a grin on her face – and a bouquet of flowers in her hands. Daisies, to be exact.

I put my hands in my jacket pockets and slowly approached her. "Where'd you get those from?"

She was beaming, but seeing me she gave me a small frown. "Well if I tell you, you'll just tease me again."

"No need, Red." I gave her a smug smile. "I think I can make an educated guess."

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "You look too far into things, Ezekiel."

"Yeah," I walked over to the large stack of books Baird had left me to read and shrugged. "It's just one of the many things that makes me so awesome."

Cassandra gave me a smile and went back to finding a vase for her flowers. Looks like a great day of work, thanks to me, Ezekiel Jones. Most awesomest friend in the world, I might add. Now let's just hope for another easy day like this tomorrow.

* * *

 _Reviews are like Lasagna.  
I love Lasagna._

Next chapter will be, "Road Trips and Untrustworthy Omelets"


	4. Road Trips and Untrustworthy Omelets

_A/N: Sorry for the lack of updating. This chapter has needed to be edited for who knows how long. Haven't had the time until now.  
Hope you enjoy this chapter!_

* * *

Here's some advice: never wish for something. Why you ask? Because the universe seems to always grant you the complete opposite of what you wished for. Yeah, that's right, I asked for an easy day of work. A day where I could relax at the Library, mess with Stone, tease Cassandra, whip some of my awesome plan up. Maybe even get them together officially – who knows? Sometimes _I_ can't even predict my own awesomeness. But you know what else I can't predict? Flynn Carsen.

Yeah, the Librarian popped up out of nowhere late last night. Told Eve to get everyone together early this morning – we all had to meet at 6 bloody AM to hear his _great_ and _so exciting_ news. Bet you couldn't guess what it was.

"Road trip!" Flynn exclaimed, one hand on the wheel, the other raised high in the air. "Librarians, this is going to be so great – I can show you the Grand Canyon and, oh, Niagara Falls!"

"Aren't those on opposite sides of the country, mate?" I sat in the back of the Expedition Flynn rented, squished in with Stone and Cassandra. Baird obviously got shot-gun – and quite honestly I don't think any of us wanted it. Then you'd have to actually listen.

"Fair point, Jones." Flynn pointed his finger towards me. I was sitting behind Baird, while Stone sat behind Flynn. Cassandra was contently squished in the middle. "So maybe not Niagara Falls."

"And, actually," Cassandra spoke up. "Arizona is about twenty hours from here, so… maybe not Grand Canyon, either."

"Right." Flynn sighed. "Okay, so what _is_ close enough to us that doesn't require being on the road for more than two to three days?"

The van was quiet. Then Cassandra said, "Canada's pretty close. The border is only about eight hours from here."

See _that_ , that got my attention.

"Canada!" Flynn said with great enthusiasm. "Perfect, Ms. Cillian! Canada! I perfect destination."

"Wait, Flynn," Baird said with panic in her voice. "Did everyone bring their passports?"

"Nope." Cassandra said quietly.

I shrugged. "Didn't even think about it."

"This is why you _plan_ this sort of stuff." Stone grumbled. He wasn't too fond of road trips, apparently.

"Psh posh, Eve, we're Librarians! We don't need passports!" Flynn said with a little too much humor in his voice.

Stone sighed and sat up. "You don't have to have a passport to cross the Canadian border."

Flynn's index finger flew back into the air. "Right, there's that, too."

"But does it make it _easier_?" Baird asked Stone.

"When would it not make it easier?" Stone replied.

"Right, Librarian, turn around."

"But Eve-"

"We've only been on the road for what, five minutes? Turn around before it's too late." Flynn resisted. "Before I turn it around _for you_."

Flynn turned around at the closest gas station.

This will be real fun. Grumpy Stone, Baird and Flynn acting like and old married couple, and… Cassandra looks a little on the green side.

"You okay there, Red?"

She nodded, forcing a smile. "I just get a little car sick. I'll be fine."

Stone groaned. "Jones, when we get out, _you_ sit in the middle. Give Cassie the window seat."

"Why do _I_ have to sit in the middle? If you're so worried for Cassandra's health, then you can sit in the middle, mate."

Stone pulled up, glaring at me. "Jones-!"

"Guys, I'm fine -!" Cassandra paused, holding her stomach. She looked even more green than before.

Brilliant. Definitely just my kind of hell of a day.

Cassandra's hand flew over her mouth. "Um, could we pull over?"

* * *

"Canada here we come!"

We were on the road again. Conveniently for us, we all keep our passports at the Library. So, with a short wait for Baird to gather them all, Flynn to google directions, Cassandra to hurl a few times, and for me and Stone to finally get seating arrangements in order, we were off. Only, what, an hour off schedule? At least we were going to Canada. Not the most awesome place on earth, but it's better than some national park.

"So where are we headed, Flynn?" Cassandra said excitedly, now sitting behind the Librarian. "Vancouver? Vancouver Island? Anywhere in British Columbia?"

"Nope!" He grinned. I couldn't even see it since he was driving, but he was grinning. "Even better!"

Cassandra looked at me, I just shrugged. She looked at Stone, (who was now sitting in the middle. There was no way I would let us all be packed in a car together for hours and hours and not have them squished beside each other) which made Stone feel obligated to speak for the first time since we got back in the car. He whispered to her, "Watch it be a National Park. There's two right up in driving distance."

No. It better not be. If it is -

"Just tell us, Flynn." Baird nagged.

"All right, all right. It's the one and only Banff National Park!" The whole car was silent again. "What? Aren't you guys excited?"

If Cassandra and Stone don't end up together by the end of this trip, I might just let myself get hit by a car on our way back.

* * *

"Flynn," I spoke, breaking the never ending silence. Cassandra had thrown up twice, despite her window seat, and was now asleep on Stone's arm. Thanks to me, obviously. One day, I could actually see him _thanking_ me. Anyway, back to the point. Stone was quiet, just sitting in the middle with crossed arms and scowl on his face. Baird was reading – and Flynn, well he had put on classical music for all our ears to hear, and was silently being the conductor to every piece. I can't believe people actually listen to this – it's like they _want_ to fall asleep.

Flynn looked back at me for a second, then replied, "Yes, Ezekiel?"

"Remind me again why we didn't just use the back door for this _wild_ adventure?"

He chuckled. "Well, then we just suck the adventure out of it!"

Baird closed her book and looked at me, a smirk on her face. "This is Flynn's version of team exercises."

"Team exercises, seriously? Don't you think we've had enough of those? I think almost dying on a weekly basis counts for _plenty_ team trust points."

Flynn shrugged. "Well, you guys have, of course. But I have just brought myself back into the team – promising you all to start treating you equally, with respect."

"So you torturing us is your way of showing us respect?"

"Shut up, Jones." Stone grumbled. "Flynn's got a good point. We go on missions, sure, but there's never any _real_ bonding. We might gain trust, but what about all the rest? Like for instance, I don't think you knew Cassandra got car sick 'till today, did ya?"

I leaned back and sulked. "No, you know why? Because we have the wonderful convenience of the back-door."

Stone rolled his eyes. "I don't like road trips just as much as you, all right? But sooner or later you gotta look on the bright side, instead of just sittin' around with a dang cloud over your head all the time."

"Coming from the guy who might as well have made it start raining, due to _his_ rather dreary cloud."

Stone glared at me. "I'm better now, ain't I? I just don't like surprises."

I let out a chuckle through my nose. "Who does?"

"Cassandra," Baird chimed in, a smirk on her face.

"And why not love surprises?" Flynn said. "They bring a thrill of adventure! That little reminder that life always brings forth the unexpected."

She looked at us with a raised brow. "And Flynn, apparently."

We laughed with Baird, and then the car became silent again. That was, until Cassandra woke up having to pee. She bounced up and down until we finally made it to a gas station – but quickly after she came running back in the car and just shook her head.

"What's wrong?" Baird asked.

"Let's just say I hope the Clipping Book never sends us _there_."

"Thought you had to pee," I reminded.

She looked at me with wide eyes. "I'll hold it."

And she did, until we found a nicer, cleaned place to stop. It also happened to have a place to eat, and so we all piled out so we could get some breakfast before going back on the road.

The little place beside the pit stop was a diner – small, bit smelly, but quaint, I guess. Flynn and Baird sat down at a table separate from us, and us three all sat down at the booth beside them. I slid in one side of the table first, that way I could refuse anyone else to sit beside me, and Cassandra and Stone sat side by side on the other side of the booth. Cassandra ooed and awed at the menu, debating between pancakes or bacon and eggs, and Stone just smiled at her. It would actually be kinda cute, if I didn't have to be a third wheel, that is.

"I'd go with the pancakes," I voiced.

"Why?" Cassandra asked, curiously.

"Carbs settle better on a sour stomach." I gave her a smirk.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to throw up again, Ezekiel. I'm fine. It was simply a fluke, due to shock of an early morning."

"Riiight," I dragged out, looking back at my menu.

"However, I think you're right." Cassandra chirped. "Pancakes sound delicious. - Oh! Orange Juice or Milk?"

Stone and I laughed at her, watching the ginger fret over her first meal of the day. I glanced up and noticed he was staring, gazing at her as she scanned her plastic menu – does he usually do that?"

"What're you gonna get, Stone?"

His head jerked away, looking at me confused. "Oh, right," he looked down at his menu. "Not much of a breakfast person. I'll probably just get some coffee."

"Jake," Cassandra looked almost concerned. "You have to get something to eat. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

He shrugged. "I manage fine without it."

"So you don't like bacon? Or sausage?"

"It's not that I don't like it, Cass, I'm just never hungry for it."

"That's because breakfast boost your metabolism – waking up your stomach and readying you for the rest of the day. If you don't eat it you can become irritable, plus – without it your body can fail to process the glucose you digest properly for the rest of the day."

Stone sighed, clearly seeing he wasn't winning this argument. "I'll get some bacon and eggs, all right?"

Cassandra beamed. "Good."

"Less cranky Stone is always good with me." I teased him. Stone grumbled at me, Cassandra giving me a 'don't be mean' look, as always. "I think I'm leaning towards an omelet."

"Don't." We all three jumped, seeing a man pop out of nowhere. His eyes were dark and his clothes fell loose on his shoulders. "Don't trust the omelet."

We all looked at each other perplexed, and then I said, "All right, mate. Thanks."

The old man walked away, watching us as he went.

Cassandra blinked. "Well, that was … weird."

"You could say that, yeah." I let out a bemused chuckle. "Still gettin' the omelet, though."

"N- really Jones?" Stone waved his hand at me, his face contorted into aggravation. "Don't get the dang omelet."

"I can get the omelet if I wanna get the omelet. I don't think that lune had any clue what a good omelet taste like anyway, do you?"

"Well, I mean," Cassandra considered it. "He _would_ probably know better than us."

I raised a brow at them, a smug look on my face. "For all we know he's passing through, just like us."

"Possibly." Cassandra's mouth slanted to the side. "But, I still wouldn't risk it."

I scoffed. "I'm gettin' the omelet."

The waitress approached the table, her notepad and pen ready to take our orders. "Ready? Or do you still need a few minutes?"

I gave her a charming smile. "I'm ready."

"Same," Cassandra coincided, letting out a short, satisfied breath.

Stone closed his menu. "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Great." The waitress readied her pen. "What'll you have?"

"Well," I started, closing my menu before saying, "I think I'll take the omelet."

* * *

I shouldn't have got the omelet. Why in God's name did they let me eat that bloody cursed omelet? We were back on the road, and my stomach was _killing_ me. I think it might actually be trying to murder me right now.

Stone let out a laugh, wagging his head. "I told ya. What did Cassandra say? 'Don't risk it, Jones', and here ya are – dealing with the consequences of you, riskin' it."

I scowled at him as I laid back, gripping my stomach. "Yeah, thanks mate, I really appreciate you stating the obvious."

"Any time, Jones." He patted my shoulder, giving me a very smug, appeased smile. "Any time."

"Um, Eve?" Cassandra spoke up, talking to Baird (who was now driving). "Can we pull over?" She laid a hand over her mouth. Jake gently placed his hand on her back and handed her a trash bag; Eve hurriedly tried to find the closest exit to take.

Yup, this trip was going to take much longer than the twelve estimated hours. My stomach gurgled, and I moaned. "I'm with Red. Let's pull over."

* * *

 _This road trip adventure will continue, just not sure for how long. Right now it just has one more chapter to it - but I haven't **finished** that chapter, so we'll see. _

_Thank you guys so much for the Reviews! They have meant **so** much to me. They seriously keep me updating and writing this story. If it wasn't for your Reviews, this story wouldn't have even gotten this far. You guys rock._


	5. Treasure Hunts and Unexpected Roommates

_A/N: So every time I wrote more it felt like the ending wasn't quite right. I still don't like the ending to this chapter, but I can't make you guys wait anymore. Sorry for the long gap in updates. Over the weekend I had a retreat that gave me no time to write, and college started back today. Updates won't be as frequent now, but I will continue with this story - I promise._

 _Ezekiel starts really scheming in this chapter. Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

The plan. The awesome, brilliant plan. This plan, for an awesome plan, has had very little planning involved. And, because of that, I'm going to startup phase three of my awesome plan.

What's that? Let's go with hugging.

You see, they've had dinner (thanks to me), Stone gave her flowers (thanks to me), they made up over a fight (thanks to me), but there's never any hugging. Why is that? Probably because Stone prefers to act like he's made of _actual_ stone. But no, if Cassandra can sleep on his shoulder, they can give each other a bloody hug.

You might think, 'why is a hug so important, oh awesome Ezekiel?' But you see, when two people hug, the sad chaps in the hug let out endorphins, which can make your _brain_ realize why the that person you're hugging is so amazing to you. Probably. I don't know the real science to it, I'm not some science nerd, am I? But I'm right. I'm always right. And this? This will work. Just have to figure out what _this_ is.

First, we just gotta get the hell out of this car.

"Are we there yet?" I groaned, slumped in my seat with my hood over my head and my eyes closed.

"Jones, if you ask that one more time…" Baird threatened.

I peeked open my eyes, looking at Jadra over there. - No, not Jadra. Definitely not Jadra. Anyway, Cassandra was asleep again, but her head on the window, Jacob's jacket as a pillow. Jacob's head was rested on the back of the seat, his eyes closed, but his breathing didn't indicate that he was actually sleeping.

I turned my head back up and sighed. "Are we there-?"

"Jones, I swear, one more time and I'll pull the car over and personally make sure you _never_ arrive anywhere ever again."

Baird was grumpy. Good to know. I was about to respond when-

"Well Jones," Flynn started, sitting in the passenger seat. He looked back at me with a grin. "I do believe I can say, we are indeed there."

Stone sat up a little, his eyes now open. He looked out the window and then looked irritated at Flynn. "We're only at the dang border, Flynn."

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "The border of Canada itself!"

"Mate," I said, looking unimpressed. "It's Canada. They say 'eh' a lot and eat lots of maple syrup."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Jones." He looked away, _way_ too excited. It really amazed me how he could be so excited about a place like Canada. We go to places like Paris every day.

"What makes this National Park of yours so great anyway?" I probed.

"Well, first off," he gave an amused chortle. "It is not of my possession – though I do strongly wish that were so. Secondly, Jones," he looked at me with another ecstatic grin. "Nothing but the pure bliss of adventure that awaits us could make this place any more special than it already is."

I tweaked a brow. "So there's treasure buried somewhere, then?"

"Exactly."

"What?" Baird shrieked, taking her eyes off the road to give him a sharp glare. "Flynn Carsen! If we were going on another mission, you could've told me from the beginning!"

"Who said anything about a mission? We get no pay check from fun, Eve!"

"Wait," I put up a finger, sitting up some. "You get _paid_?"

"Flynn, fun or no fun, it's a task that you have set for all of us. Does this buried treasure involve _magic_?" Baird shifted her eyes to Flynn and back to the road. Flynn just stayed quiet. "Figures. Leave it to a Librarian to bring work with him on _vacation_. Unpaid work, for that matter."

"No, seriously," I spoke up. "You get paid? Are we all supposed to be paid?"

"Yes, well, leave it to the Guardian to insist on driving, and paying for her food, and going back for our passports, and getting the gas _without help,_ and killing the fun out of every adventure we undertake!"

"Why do you need another adventure, Flynn? Why is it so important to you to constantly have your time filled with life thrilling, and life _threatening_ journeys to wrap yourself into? Why can't we all just drive to Canada, eat a meal, explore the mountain side, and _go home_?"

"What's the fun in that?"

"The fun in it is not almost dying every waking moment!"

"You know what this really is Eve? This is you and your ridiculous fear of dying."

"Okay one, there is _nothing_ wrong with being _cautious_ over my own life. Second, Flynn, I'm not afraid of _me_ dying, I'm afraid of _you_ dying!"

"Eve we have gone over this-!"

"I think you mean _you_ have. I just get the wonderful privilege of listening."

"I'm a Librarian! It's my job to be in danger!"

"Yes, but guess what, Flynn? It's _my_ job to-!"

"Guys!" Stone was acting like he was awake again – the threat in his voice shutting everyone up. "Cass is tryin' to sleep. So why don't we all shut our pie holes and let her, all right?"

Flynn looked at him and nodded. "You're right. Cassandra's not well when she's awake. For her sake, I shall keep my mouth sealed."

Baird scoffed. "That'll be a first."

Flynn opened his mouth, but said nothing. He clearly was doing everything to hold in the next insults that were ready to come Baird's way. This arguing stuff though, it meant nothing. They did this all the time – and they're just as happy as ever together.

No, no my challenge was the two love sick puppies beside me. They contained their feelings, sure, but I could see right through them. Now I just needed a solid plan.

It would be getting dark out soon, which meant we would need to stay at a hotel for the night. We were probably going to pass the border; find a hotel; get some dinner; sleep; and then wake up at unacceptable hours of the morning so we could continue our supposed-to-be-four-hour-but-probably-more-like-six-hour-trip to Banff.

Those were good destinations. I could work with those. Dinner, probably. Hotel, definitely. Banff, I better. Only real challenge is getting the cooperation of the two love birds. Knowing they'll do anything to make sure I _don't_ succeed, I better take the precautions that they don't suspect a thing. Until it's too late for them, of course.

Subtlety, Ezekiel. Subtlety is key. I've got this. What am I saying? Of course I've got this – I'm awesome! Self-doubt is for the weak. And me? I'm the opposite of weak, yeah? I'm … well, I'm Ezekiel Jones. And I can accomplish anything.

We stopped at the border, Cassandra waking up from the motion of the car. _That_ woke her up, but not the yelling just thirty seconds ago? She rubbed her eyes and looked at Stone. They gave each other a smile and Stone whispered something to her again, which she in return let out soft giggle.

It couldn't be too hard, right? All I have to do is push them in the right direction. I've been easing into it, so might as well just jump right in and shove them that way. I'm not known for patience, and I'm not about to show any of that now, now am I?

Dinner, Hotel, Banff. If they aren't at least hugging by then I'm throwing this plan out the window and just shoving them in a closet instead.

I looked at Cassandra, who had thrown up her entire breakfast and lunch before we had even got on the highway. How a person got _that_ car sick was beyond me. I never was one for doctor stuff anyway, though. Never appealed to the Ezekiel Jones way.

"Gosh, I'm starved." She announced. We all groaned. "What?"

"I don't think you need any more food until we find a permanent place to stay, Cassandra." Baird said, like she was the mother and Red was her sick child.

"Guys, I'm fine." Cassandra assured. She gave us all a reassuring grin and shrugged. "There's no way I could throw up _again_."

I scoffed. "You'd be surprised."

The car jerked a little, Flynn having to come to unexpected stop. Cassandra held her stomach a little, the color draining from her face instantly.

Needless to say, we all decided to get food _after_ we found a hotel.

* * *

After driving for a while, we found a nice place to settle for the night. Canadians were even nicer than I expected – it was almost sickening - and this cheap motel was like some fancy hotel you'd find in Portland. Baird and Flynn were talking about room arrangements, and me, Stone, and Cassandra were all standing with the little bit of luggage we had in the lobby. We looked like lost children waiting for their parents to tell them what to do next.

Cassandra yawned, just recently waking up, and Stone ran a hand through his hair as he glanced at the time on his phone. I looked back at Baird and Flynn, talking to the receptionist. Looks like it's time for me to step in and fix everything – since I highly doubt Baird would make anything work the _right_ way.

I walked up to the counter, stepping beside Baird. "We'll need two rooms, thanks." I said to the receptionist.

Flynn and Baird looked at me with furrowed brows. "Jones? Have something to tell us?" Baird said with more contempt in his voice than she'd like to admit.

"One room for you and Flynn, one for me, Cassie and Stone. Sorry, but not too hard to work out there, Baird."

"But-"

"Saves more money for us all in the long run, yeah?"

"We were just considering putting Cassandra and Eve in one room, and us guys in another, Jones-"

"Now how realistic is that, mate?" Flynn looked at me confused. "C'mon, you two are no secret. Besides, Cassandra spends most her time with me and Stone anyway, yeah? Makes the most sense."

"I don't know, Jones," Baird shook her head. "I think-"

"Trust me, Baird, my ways the best way."

She tweaked a brow, crossing her arms across her chest. "And how is that?"

I gave her a grin. "Because, my ways always best."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "You're up to something, Jones. You've been up to something since Utah. Whatever you're planning on doing-"

"Relax Baird, I'm not about to go rob a bank or something, now am I?"

She eyed me. "With you, I wouldn't be surprised."

"It's _Canada_. What exactly am I going to do with Monopoly money?"

Flynn looked down at the money in his hands – his fingers stretched over the multi-colored paper bills. "He has a point."

"That's – fine, but if I catch you up to anything illegal I'll–"

"What, ground me?" I laughed, laying a hand on her shoulder. She just glared at it. "I'll make sure no laws are broken, Ezekiel's promise."

"You do know I have absolutely no trust in that kind of promise, right?"

I grinned at her. "I'm Ezekiel Jones! What could I possibly be up to?"

Baird groaned, taking the keys from the receptionist. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of." She handed me the room key. "I better not regret this, Ezekiel."

She will. "Why would you?"

"For countless reasons, if I understand correctly." Flynn stated.

I smirked. "Don't worry guys, I've got this _all_ under control. You'll see."

She sighed. "Just go before I change my mind."

* * *

Cassandra heaved her luggage into her hotel room – her happening to bring _one_ a very heavy suit case, despite having little to no clue what Flynn's surprise would be. She of course figured it out by reason. Flynn was all for adventure, and they were Librarians, so the possibility of it being travel related was very likely. Plus, Baird hinted on the phone that she might want to bring some luggage, but that's irrelevant.

She dropped the suit case on the ground, beside the first bed in the room, and assumed to find Eve in the room with her. However, she was in the room alone. "Eve?" She called. No answer. "Hm." She slanted her mouth to her side and shrugged. She placed her suit case on the one of two twin beds in the room and started to pull out clothes to sleep in.

* * *

Jacob was in the bathroom when he heard the door open, and then a _thud_ hit the floor out in the bedroom (likely being a suit case). He assumed it was Ezekiel until it dawned on him that Jones didn't think to bring any luggage with him – having no clue what this surprise would be. Stone brought some things, but very little.

 _"_ _Eve?"_ He heard outside the door. He raised a brow. Why was Cassandra looking for Eve in his room? After setting his toothbrush on the side of the sink he turned the handle of the bathroom door, pushing the door to, to see the back of Cassandra – unpacking?

"Oh, there you are," Cassandra said, not looking at Jacob, but continuing to unpack. "I was thinking about getting something from the vending matching out there – want something?"

Stone cleared his throat, unsure what else to do. "Nah, I'm … good."

Cassandra's body froze, clearly shocked to hear Jacob's voice. She then whirled around to look at Jacob, her face looking confused. "I … thought you were Eve."

Jacob nodded. "Yeah, well … I'm not." His tone wasn't rude, but simply a matter of fact, and slightly awkward.

She nodded back, giving him a small smile. "Yes," she chuckled a little, "I see that now. I must've found the wrong room."

Jake shook his head, his brows furrowed. "Our keys only open one door and one door only."

"Oh, right." She thought about it for a moment, then looked at Jake with raised brows. "Did Ezekiel give you yours?"

He groaned. "Yes. And you?"

She nodded. "I guess us three are sharing then."

Jacob didn't look convinced. "Could be." With his hands in his jean pockets he walked over to the other bed in the room, pulling his belongings up from the floor and pulling out a few odds and ends.

"Where is he going to sleep?" She asked, curiously. "I can sleep on the floor-"

"Cass," Jacob smiled at her. "I ain't lettin' a lady, especially you, of all ladies, to sleep on the floor. Jones can manage."

She smirked. "Just like he managed in the middle?"

Jacob growled. "That was a fight not worth fighting over." He shrugged. "Besides, got me sittin' by you, didn't it?"

Cassandra blushed and turned back to her suit case. What was Ezekiel up to? Was he just messing with her, all because he discovered her secret? Whatever it was, it was cruel. Messing with her emotions was not something Cassandra was okay with. She'd have to give him a good talking to later.

"I'm gonna go find Jones." Stone announced, walking for the door.

"Okay," She said with her soft, high pitch voice.

He smirked at her. "Want something from the vending machine?"

Cassandra chuckled and shook her head. "No thanks, I'll just get it myself."

"You sure? I'm already gonna be out."

Cassandra thought about it, then pulled out two dollars from her wallet and handed it to him. "I'll take anything chocolate."

He smiled at her and nodded. "I'll be back in no time."

And he turned the knob of the door, exiting the small two-bedded hotel room. Cassandra sighed. Ezekiel was really going to get a good chew out from her later.

* * *

I was standing by the counter of the hotel, waiting for the girl to come back with the key to my new room. I flipped a coin in my hand and stared down at it, seeing it land on heads. Good luck for me – maybe that means my plan will be successful these few days. Not that I need any luck for that – of course my plan will succeed. It's too awesome _not to_.

"Jones," I heard Stone's voice. I turned around to see him marching towards me. "What're you doin'?" He looked around at the counter, his eyes narrowed.

"Standing here. You?"

He glared. " _Why_ are you standin' here Jones?"

Before I could answer, the receptionist came back with my key. "Here you go sir," she put out the key for me to grab. "Your room is 206."

"Thanks." I gave her a warm smile and took the key in my hand.

"Jones." I could hear the anger in his voice now. "Why is she giving you a room key?"

"How else am I supposed to get into my room?" I looked at him with a flagrant face.

"What about me and Cassandra?"

"Sorry, mate, but I'm not much for sharing."

He growled. He loved to do that. "So you're tellin' me you spent your money on a hotel room just so you didn't have to share a room with me and Cassie for one night?"

"Course not," I laughed. "I'm spending Baird's money. Swiped her card off her when she wasn't lookin'."

"Jones-!"

"Relax, Stone, she won't even know it's gone."

"That's not the point, Jones."

"Then what _is_ the point?"

"The point –!" He took in a deep breath, keeping himself from yelling in the middle of the Canadian hotel lobby. "The point is I think you're up to somethin' and I don't like it."

Looks like my plan for subtly just practically jumped out the window. "I'm always up to something, mate. You're just mad 'cause you think it involves you."

"Well, doesn't it?"

I snorted out a laugh and gave him a smug smile. "I don't know. What'd you think?"

His stare was threatening as he said, "I think you better knock it off before I do it for ya."

I shrugged and placed a hand on his shoulder. "M'sorry Stone, I didn't feel much like being a third wheel tonight. You guys will have fun – watch some rom-coms or somethin'. 'Cause me? After dinner I'm going to bed. My bed time was 'bout three centuries ago."

I walked off, letting Stone cool off before likely chasing me again to shout at me some more. After a few minutes Stone came back beside me. To my surprise, however, he didn't shout.

He seemed to be deep in thought when he calmly asked, "Why're you doin' this?"

I casually waved my shoulders forward. "Just doin' my job."

He raised a brow. "What exactly do you think our job entails, Jones?"

"That's easy," I stopped at the elevator and looked at him with a haughty expression. "Helping people, whatever it takes, yeah?" I patted him on the shoulder and walked in the elevator, leaving Stone as stiff as a rock out in the lobby.

Seems my plan was working pretty well, considering the circumstances. Now I get to go to go eat, go to bed, and the next morning ask Cassandra how last night was. All I'm trying to achieve is Cassie and Stone to get some personal time in between them. They always have me, or Baird, or Flynn, or Jenkins – it's time for it to be just them, with some peaceful silence for a change.

But before I get ahead of myself we have a dinner to eat – and I have to make sure everything goes _just_ like I plan it to go. Time for my brilliantly awesome plan to take an entrée tonight.

* * *

We walked into the diner – a little place resembling an iHop. All breakfast all day, with the options of burgers and soda if you're not in the mood for waffles. After how my stomach felt today from that omelet, I can safely say I am staying away from _all_ breakfast foods for the time being.

"Jones," Baird started, looking around. "Where's Stone and Cassandra? You said they were going to meet us here."

I looked around, trying to look as innocent as Flynn looked. "Don't know. Guess they're on their way here. Stone probably made Cass wait so he could put on his cowboy boots."

She looked out the window a little worried and then back at me. "You _did_ tell them the _right_ place to meet us, right?"

"Baird, I'm hurt," I gave her an assuring smile. "It's me, Ezekiel Jones! I don't think I could get something wrong unless I was _trying_ to. Do you?"

She eyed me, and then followed Flynn to a table. I tried to hide my proud smile as I followed Baird close behind.

* * *

Cassandra and Jacob walked into the restaurant, dim lighting, a romantic atmosphere, and something that sounded like a violin playing in the background. They gave each other a questioning look, before the hostess spoke.

"Welcome," She said with an eager smile. "How many tonight?"

"Um, actually," Cassandra said. "We're supposed to be meeting our friends. Likely under Carsen?"

The hostess looked on her paper, then shook her head. "I'm sorry. No one under that name."

"Baird?" Stone asked.

She shook her head.

"Jones?" Cassandra hoped, but her voice showed the doubt she had.

The hostess shook her head again. "But a Mr. Jones did reserve a table for a Stone?"

Both their eyes widened. "For how many?" Stone suspected.

"Two." She replied with a smile. Cassandra and Stone looked at each other, both knowing what this was.

"Jones…" Stone growled.

"We'll just call Eve," Cassandra offered. "She can tell us where we _really_ are eating."

Stone nodded and reached for his phone. It wasn't there. He then searched his jacket pocket – nothing. He gave Cassandra knowing look, so she looked around for hers too. Nothing.

"Ezekiel." Cassandra mumbled.

"Would you like to take your table now, or would you like to wait?" The hostess asked, clearly needing to get to her other customers.

"Well," Stone sighed, looking at Cassandra with a defeated look. "Might as well eat here."

Cassandra timidly nodded. This place was way too romantic for two friends. "I'm too hungry to really go all the way back to the hotel."

"Then it's settled." He looked at the hostess and smiled. "We're ready to sit now, if we could."

"No problem." She grinned a fake grin. "Follow me."

Cassandra could just strangle Ezekiel right now. She gripped her stomach as it growled and grumbled.

But for now? For now they eat.

* * *

 _Reviews are like pancakes.  
_ _I love pancakes._

 _I will try to post the next chapter as soon as I can! Next chapter will continue with this Jassandra dinner. Thank you guys so much for your reviews and reads. You have been so awesome and encouraging._


	6. Romantic Lighting and a Familiar Face

_A/N: Guys, school will be the death of me. Sorry this chapter has taken so long. I've written when I get the chance._

 _What'd you think of that finale? I was pleased - nice twist. Plus, we may have not got the Jassandra I would have liked, but I think we got more than I honestly expected. That always makes it better._

 _This journey has gone longer than I had expected. Not sure if that's bad or good! Hope you enjoy this chapter!_

* * *

Cassandra was staring at the menu, but quite honestly she has no idea what it says. She's not even fully sure what type of food this restaurant serves. Now that's not because the menu is in a different language, or because the meals are so fancy she can't pronounce them – no it's because her head is buzzing. Buzzing full of thoughts of the person sitting across from her at the two seated table in a low, romantic lit restaurant.

Did he look as awkward and uncomfortable as she did? She looked up, they made a long, inept moment of eye contact before she looked back down at her menu. Yes, yes he did.

Jacob cleared his throat, the uneasy tension between them a little too extreme for two people who were supposedly just friends. If they were just friends this shouldn't be so weird, right? They wouldn't even think anything of it … right? It was nothing – just food! In fact, it wasn't weird when they ate at a place fairly similar to this in Utah. Granted, it wasn't near as romantic – and there was no violin playing in the background. But no matter what, it was just a lunch and they thought nothing of it; yet here they were. Was the time of day the reason for the discomfort?

He glanced up again, seeing Cassandra scan through the same page on the menu at least five times over. It was cute, trying to act like she was actually reading the page. No, no this had nothing to do with the time of day. It was awkward because of Ezekiel. It was weird because it clearly was strategized with the intension of it being a date. Now they were sitting here, more distracted than they've ever been and pretending to be only distracted with food – he was probably so proud of himself right now. Rewarding himself with pizza or something. When he gets a hold of him…

"What're you thinking about getting?" Cassandra wondered, looking dazed at the menu.

Jacob looked down, realizing he hadn't actually read it. "Oh, um, I dunno. Maybe a burger."

Cassandra furrowed her brow. "Is that an option?"

Jake chuckled and laid the menu down on the table top, looking at Cassandra in the eyes. "Probably not. What're you gettin'?"

Her eyes got big at that question, and she looked back at the menu. "I have no idea."

Before Jacob could reply, the waiter came to the side of the table with a little notebook in his right hand – pencil in his left. "What can I get you two love birds tonight?"

Cassandra and Jacob looked at each other with wide eyes. Cassandra stuttered, "Oh- we – you- he – we're not- I just – I'm just hungry."

The waiter stared at her like she had lost all her marbles in that ten seconds it took to speak, and then he nodded. "Right. So water then?"

Cassandra nodded. "Thank you."

"And you, cowboy?"

Jacob looked at the waiter confused for a moment. He hadn't spoken since the waiter arrived, and he wasn't wearing anything to indicate he was from Oklahoma – how on earth did he know? He chose not to ask. "Just a water is fine."

"Allrighty. Are you two ready to order some food?"

"I'm…" Cassandra stared down at the menu again. "No."

Jacob smiled a smile that reached his eyes, causing wrinkles around them. He ducked his head down, trying to hide it, and then looked back up at the waiter. "We'll take a few more minutes, thanks."

"Okey dokey," the waiter said with a smile, tucking his notebook in his apron pocket. "I'll get you two your waters then."

The waiter walked off, leaving them by themselves. They looked at each other, making eye contact again. Cassandra gave him a sheepish beam and started fidgeting with her fingers. Jacob looked back down at the menu.

Lord help them.

* * *

"Where are they?" Baird watched the door, a menu in her hands. "They should be here by now."

It was actually sweet, how much she cared for their safety. I should probably try to ease her nerves. "Relax, Baird. They'll be here in no time."

"Yes, you said that thirty minutes ago, Ezekiel." She let out a sharp exhale and looked down at her menu again.

"Maybe we could try calling them again?" Flynn offered, trying to help with the nervous Baird. "We tried calling Stone – perhaps we should try Cassandra."

Baird shook her head. "I tried both of them. They're both going straight to voicemail."

It's a really good thing I turned their phones off after I swiped them. I took their cells off of them when I told them to meet us at that fancy restaurant. They're now sitting in my jacket pocket, thankfully completely soundless.

"Perhaps we should go back, go out and look for them." Flynn considered. That's not good – but thankfully I made a plan for this. Guess I'm the one that's that good.

"We're Librarians – anything could've happened." Baird looked back me, clearly suspicious. Honestly I would be too, if I was her. "You _did_ tell them the _right_ place to meet, right Jones?"

"Baird, we've been over this." I smirked. "I told them exactly where they needed to be."

She was about to scold me about being cryptic, I could just see it. So, instead of listening (because who needs that, right?) I started my plan to get us out of becoming a panicked search party.

A ring of a cell phone started. The sound emanating from my jacket pocket. "Oh, hold that thought for just a minute, Baird." I pulled out my phone, pretending to look at the screen confused. "That's weird." I stood up from the table and walked out of ear shot, where I then pretended to be on the phone with someone. Of course I wasn't – no, I just pressed a button on my phone while it was in my pocket – causing it to start its ringer. And yes, I already know – I'm brilliant.

I walked back after a few minutes, giving Baird and Flynn a comforting smile. "That was Stone."

"What?" Baird practically jumped out of her seat. "Where are they?"

"Seems Red started feeling under the weather again – they decided to stay at the hotel."

Her face melted into relief, but then her mind started turning. "Why weren't they answering my calls?"

"Apparently their phones died," I looked at Flynn with a face of judgment. "They didn't have their chargers, thanks to the hasty mass exit we had this morning."

"So how did he call you?"

"Oh, hotel phone." I shrugged. "It probably didn't dawn on him to call 'till just now. Cass has been throwing up again."

Baird placed a hand over her mouth. "She must have some sort of bug. I just assumed it was motion sickness."

"Yes, well, we all did, didn't we?" I folded my hands in front of me and sighed. "I suppose we can only learn from our mistakes."

Flynn eyed me, but Baird wasn't paying me any attention. Probably for the best.

"So, then, shall we eat?" Flynn asked Baird.

She looked up and considered it, before nodding. "I'm sure Jacob can take care of Cassandra just fine."

And that was that.

I bet Stone wants to hug me he's so grateful right now.

* * *

Jacob wanted to punch Ezekiel right about now.

They finally ordered, though Jacob wasn't paying much attention to _what_ he ordered, and now they were sitting at the table in silence waiting on their food. All they seemed to have in common this very moment was their glasses of water.

Cassandra sipped on her glass, jingling around the ice. Great, now they didn't even have water. He had to lighten the mood.

"So, um," Jacob cleared his throat and leaned in on the table. "Ever been to Canada before?"

Cassandra glanced up at him from her water glass, her lips still on the straw. A smile creeped up on her face as she said, "Aside from now, you mean?"

Jacob laughed, ducking his head. "Yeah," he looked back up with a smile, "aside from now."

She put her glass to the side and situated herself so she could look at him fully. With her mouth slanted to the side she shrugged and said, "I believe this is my sixth time visiting, actually."

Jacob raised his brows. "Really?"

"Yes. Why is that surprising?"

Jacob shrugged. "I dunno – guess I just didn't peg ya for the adventurous kind."

Cassandra chuckled. "Jake, we're Librarians. We travel to new and exotic places every day – sometimes twice a day."

Okay, she got him there. "You make a good point."

"Besides, some of those really were more mandatory trips. I had a brain surgeon in Quebec I visited a few times – before I decided against the surgery."

"Five separate meetings? That's a lot of traveling. Must've been expensive."

She shook her head. "I only visited him twice."

"Oh," He fixed his arms on the table and asked, "What were the other three?"

Cassandra couldn't help but snicker a little. "Let's see, once with the French Canadians trying to make their language the only language throughout the whole world. Then when episodes of that show about the school started becoming reality in a high school, then with the maple syrup being turned into –"

"All right, all right," Jake smiled, wagging his head. "I get it. We're Librarians."

"Did you forget those missions happened, or were you just trying to start conversation?" She smirked.

"If I'm being honest," he let out a rough sigh, "I think I blocked them out of my memory just _so_ I could start-up conversation."

Cassandra nodded. "Well, then I guess I'm glad you did. We probably could use an icebreaker."

Jake snorted a laugh. "Yeah, you could say that."

"I just wish Ezekiel would stop with all his mind games for once." Cassandra sighed, picking up her glass again for a sip.

"Couldn't agree more. He's been up to something since Utah – I've 'bout had it."

Cassandra couldn't help but think _what_ he was up to. She knew fully what he was scheming – thankfully though, it seemed Stone was still in the dark as to what _that_ was. "He'll get bored soon enough."

"That's what I figured. But Jones has the attention span of a fly, and yet he still ain't given up yet."

Cassandra didn't want to talk about this topic – she felt it would only lead to her revealing his plans. Something she knew about Ezekiel was when he devoted himself to something, he planned on seeing it through. But Jake didn't want to hear that. "Ezekiel only wants entertainment. I'm sure once he no longer finds enjoyment in our whining, he'll let it go."

"Yeah…" He was thinking – his brow furrowed. Then he shook his head. "No, that's what he _wants_ us to think. I just … I just can't shake this feelin' that he's not gonna give up on this one."

Cassandra felt like they were practically saying what he was up to but just avoiding the exact words by now. Did he know? "But what exactly is _it_ that he won't give up on?"

Jacob looked at her in the eyes at that, almost as if he was trying to see if Cassandra was as oblivious as she was acting. He then picked up his glass of water and shrugged. "That's what I'm tryin' to figure out."

He knew, didn't he? Cassandra almost wanted to say something. Thank goodness the waiter came when he did, because if not she probably would have regretted whatever she was going to say.

The waiter set down their food, asked if they needed anything else, left their table, and they started eating. It was a much needed meal, especially for Cassandra who couldn't keep food down today. She finally got a meal that settled in her stomach gracefully. She really thought it was odd how sensitive her stomach was this time around to traveling – it was really a new thing. She almost wanted to somehow pin it on Ezekiel, but knowing Ezekiel would never do that to her, she decided it must've had to do with her visions lately. Brain grape trouble.

Cassandra decided to speak this time around. Small talk was crucial in times like this. You know, times when Ezekiel tricks you into a blind date – only you know your date, you just don't know you're on a date _with_ them. He could've at _least_ warned her to wear nicer clothes. "So," She dragged out, giving Jacob a teasing look. "Ever been to Canada before?"

Jacob looked up at her, cracking a grin. He let out a chuckle as he said, "If I can remember right, this would be my _fourth_ time visiting."

Cassandra returned the beam. "Really? That just seems strange." Her beam quickly transformed into a smirk. "You don't really seem like the adventurous sort."

Jacob released a short scoff. "Well I ain't exactly known for it."

"Well? What were the other three times you came? Was it for money? A job? Family?" Cassandra almost hesitated saying this last one. "A girl?"

Jake's eyes flew to hers. He almost wanted to say, 'Only the fourth time was it for a girl'. In all honesty, he only agreed to come because Cassandra asked him if he would. But he couldn't say that – it would make things too weird. It was already weird enough. "Let's see, there was a French Canadian tryin' to dominate all dialects of the world, then some dang high school student tried to make some Canadian drama reality…"

Cassandra's eyes sparkled in the light of the restaurant, her hand bracing her chin, her expression seeming so enthralled in his words. He completely forgot what he was saying.

"And? I do believe that's only two, Stone."

Jake gave an embarrassed smile. " _Ha_ , so it is." He hawked slightly, then said, "Reckon it had to do with maple syrup of some sort."

Cassandra nodded, seemingly pleased. "It was being used as a diet plan." She furrowed her brows a little as she said, "And it was working."

Jacob looked almost surprised. "Can't believe I forgot that one."

"After a while, they all seem to meld together. All becoming a big, smooshed cookie of memories – all mashed into one big overwhelming batch of magic, wonder, and … well, weird."

Jacob tinged a smile. "Yeah, somethin' like that."

Jake clearly felt weird just staring at her, so he looked down at his plate. He wasn't eating it, just staring. Cassandra watched him before saying, "Can we somehow put this on Ezekiel's bill?"

He emitted a laugh. "You wouldn't happen to be a master thief, would ya? Swipe his card off of him when he wasn't lookin'?"

"Sadly, no." She respired out. "That's assuming Ezekiel even owns his own credit card."

Jacob scoffed, wagging his head. "You gotta point." Changing the subject before it got awkwardly silent again, he said, "How's your," he looked over the table, seeing her half eaten lasagna. "Your lasagna?"

Cassandra looked down at her plate. "Oh, it's good. Nice and cheesy."

Jacob smiled. "Good."

"How's your burger?" Cassandra said with an almost simper. They came to an expensive, elegant restaurant and he got a burger. He could be such a cowboy sometimes.

Jake looked back down at his own plate, seeing the little few bites left. He crossed his arms on the table and nodded. "Nice and cheesy."

The sides of Cassandra's mouth turned into a grin, sharing the same look with Jake. "Oh!" Cassandra chirped, practically jumping in her seat. "Did I tell you about Ezekiel and my trip to Wisconsin a few days ago?"

"No, I don't think ya did."

"Well," she settled herself in her seat and raised her brows. "It was a very _cheesy_ situation."

Jacob couldn't help but find himself grinning once again.

* * *

They finished dinner and came back to the hotel; happily laughing and joking around with each other as they made their way to their room. Jacob was surprised, however pleasant that may be, on how smooth this night actually went. After they broke through the awkward tension, they couldn't stop talking to each other. Cassandra told him stories about radioactive cheese, he told her stories about days in Oklahoma, on his ranch. Cassandra then raved on about horses and how much she loved them as a child, telling him little bits about her childhood. Tonight was nice. No, it was more than nice … it was outstanding.

They walked onto the elevator and silence over took them for the first time in a while that night. They had been one-on-one all night, but never alone – not until now. The silence between them wasn't awkward however; but more of a content, blissful silence between two friends. Just like it should be.

Cassandra looked over at Jacob, her eyes reaching his. It wasn't friends anymore, was it? It was, because nothing had happened to advance the relationship out of the dreadful friend zone, but there was something there now. Something that seemingly brought that easy feeling of 'just friends' to a close. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. She had always wanted to be more, but would it ever reach past just this feeling of constant tension?

Jacob was repaying the stare Cassandra was giving him, their eyes not really tearing away from each other. Normally they would find it uncomfortable and look away, but they were too wrapped up in their own thoughts to notice the time passing. Cassandra suddenly noticed Jake's hand slowly raising, his fingers coming closer and closer to her cheek. She was completely unaware of his intentions, her heart pounding a millions beats per minute, when at last his thumbs landed on the side of her face. It swept across her cheek bone and then was gone.

"You got an eye lash." He mumbled, holding up his thumb. A short, thin little hair sat on the tip of his finger. "Got any wishes?"

Cassandra looked dazed. She sharply blinked to snap herself out of this trance she was in and looked down at his thumb. "Depends, do you really think wishing would help anyone?"

"Yeah," he said, his voice in a rough hush. "May not seem like the type, but I always believed that wishin' was just a way of gettin' you there."

"Really?" She was genuinely curious. "How is that?"

"Well," he shrugged. "Gotta have some sort of self-motivation, don't ya? Wishin' is just like hopin' – it's a crutch. When everything feels like its ending, all you have is hope, and faith. Faith for all that hopin' and wishin' to actually bring you outta that mess one day."

"So, you're saying wishing is a way of escaping reality?"

"Of sorts. Everyone's gotta escape reality in some way or another. But," he gave her a small smile, "it's also a small part of truth. After every storm, there comes –"

"A rainbow?" She raised a brow, a smug look on her face.

He gave her a playful look in return. "I was gonna say blue skies and sunshine, but that works, too."

"Well," Cassandra looked back at the single eye lash. She shut her eyes tight, scrunched up her mouth, and then blew. The eye lash went airborne, never to be seen again. Cassandra looked at him and beamed. "Let's hope you're right."

"Ain't I always?"

Cassandra gave a doubtful expression. "I think that's Ezekiel's line."

Jake chuckled. "Try stayin' consciously cooped up with him in a car for eight hours. You'd be sounding like him, too."

The elevator doors closed, making them look up in alarm. It seemed they had arrived at their floor a while back – the elevator assuming they had exited and gone far away by now. Jake cleared his throat, both standing there for a minute, realizing what had just happened. He then reached for the button for the doors to open and gestured Cassandra to take the lead. Tonight had already been an eventful night, but Cassandra had just come to remember … they were sharing a room.

* * *

I walked through the lobby of the hotel, whistling to myself as I went. I waited for Cassandra and Stone to make it back – of course making sure to dodge them seeing me. Believe it or not, I waited for them just to make sure they made it back all right. Might sound something a thoughtful person would do, I know. I can assure you that's _not_ the case in the least. No, it's simply a way of self-protection. If they did get in trouble, no way of contacting us – who would they blame? Me, of course. Even though it was me who brought _joy_ into their lives. So, I had to make sure I wouldn't be killed by Baird in the morning. It already took a dozen lies and a bribe to make her let _me_ check their room when we got back, see if Cassandra was all right. That's when I found that they hadn't arrived back at all.

Have to say, my plan went as smoothly as I had foreseen. What else did I expect? They stayed longer than they had to, then they came in giggling and flirting. It was disgustingly adorable. Baird would be proud.

I got to the elevator and pressed the little up arrow, waiting for the doors to open. As they unbolted and sank into the walls, an old man was standing in the elevator with a scowl on his face. His hair had past gray, and now it was just plain out white. His clothes hardly fit him, falling off his shoulders, and his left shoe had a toe sticking out of the end.

I gave the guy polite smile as I entered. "Evenin', mate."

He was of course getting off, so instead of saying any words to me, he just stared and then stepped out into the lobby. I couldn't help but shake the feeling that he looked familiar … where had I seen him before?

My stomach ached from the previous consumed omelet still murdering my digestive system.

That was it! Suddenly, it was like a lit light bulb had popped over my head. "Hey! You're that old geyser –" the elevator doors closed, ascending up to my room.

That had to be my imagination … right? There's no way he could be at the _same_ hotel as us in the _same_ country and the _same_ town.

Nah, that was someone else. No doubt.

* * *

"Jake, this is serious," Cassandra sat on the foot of his bed, both now in their PJ's for the night.

Jacob looked at her, swallowed, and nodded. "I know. Guess it was gonna happen sometime. Might as well be now."

Cassandra's hair was pulled back into a pony tail, the pony tail bouncing as she dipped her head down to look at her hands. "You've Got Mail, or Kate and Leopold?"

Jacob hissed, as if he had been burned across the hand. "All right. I got it."

Cassandra looked up, hopeful.

"Neither."

She whined. " _Jake_ , these movies are iconic classics."

Jacob chuckled, a brow raised. "They're romances, Cass. I'm not much for lots of drama that all leads to two people kissing in the end."

"It's Meg Ryan!"

"You want iconic movies? Why don't we watch somethin' like Ghost Busters, or Sixth Sense, or – oh! I got it. Bonanza."

Cassandra tweaked a brow. "Bonanza was a show."

He shrugged, leaning back with his hands behind his head. "Still iconic."

"Jacob,"

He resisted looking at her. He knew the look on her face would make him give in in a heartbeat. She was quiet for a moment, so he made the mistake of glancing her way. She was making a pouty face.

He winced. "All right, fine. You've Got Mail. I ain't about to watch some arrogant duke of whatever sell butter again."

Cassandra giggled. "You've seen Kate and Leopold?"

"Yeah." He gave her a warning look. "If Jones asks, then never."

Cassandra grinned and gave him a wink. "Right." She then turned around from her position, cheerfully aiming the remote to the TV and selecting You've Got Mail to play.

Jake may hate this movie, but he had to admit, he didn't hate seeing Cassandra this happy. The movie started and she gave a small squeal before scooting her way up the bed, making herself a spot beside Jake. He admittedly found her choice of seating out of character, but he wasn't going to complain.

If Jake was honest, he'd watch You've Got Mail a hundred times, if it meant spending anymore time with Cassandra.

* * *

 _Reviews are like Apple Juice_

 _I love Apple Juice_


	7. Treasure Maps and Pirate Ghosts

_A/N: See? I told you guys I wouldn't leave you hanging (Which has honestly been a struggle with school). Whoo! What a week! Timeless season finale leaving us on the edge of our seats. Not to mention Agents of SHIELD has got me like ... guys I honestly don't know how I survived that finale, and the 6 week hiatus will be the death of me. But honestly it coming back might be the ACTUAL death of me, so we'll see. #letFitzSimmonsbehappyforonce #Whedonwillpayforthis #hailhydra_

 _So! I think the end of this story is coming close. I'm thinking maybe three more chapters. I would love to keep it going, but without it on TV right now, and with school, my motivation is dead. Plus, without watching the show weekly, its a real struggle to keep the characters IN character.  
This chapter is shorter because if I didn't end it where I did then it would be a really long chapter - plus I was tired of making you guys wait so long for an update. Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

Waking up with something pressing on your chest is always unexpected. Especially when its breathing. Stone's eyes cracked open, seeing Cassandra curled up in his side, her head and arm resting on his chest. She was so peaceful – should he wake her? He bent his head, seeing the clock. It was only two in the morning. He couldn't dare wake her up – she may not fall back asleep.

Jake closed his eyes, smile on his face, and happily dozed back to sleep.

* * *

The door creaked open, a foot entering the room with a tiptoe in its step. The other foot entered, and then silently the door closed behind him.

Flynn stopped, frozen in his tracks. The TV was on some kind of blue screen, the bed closest to the door was empty, and Cassandra and Jacob were spooning on the bed closest to the window. The covers under them hadn't even been touched, Cassandra didn't look like she even took the time to take off her makeup.

He smiled to himself. Eve would want to see this more than anything.

But he didn't have time to gather Baird here and show her so she can take pictures and go all goo-goo-mom like she always did on them. No, he had a schedule to keep to. If he didn't keep to it Jenkins might just find a way to tattle on him to Charlene. Flynn Carsen was not the kind of Librarian to slack his responsibilities at home!

However, he did tell Jenkins they were going on a mission to find hidden treasure and the location was door-less. Now, well now he had to keep to his word! – Also he just really wanted to find buried treasure.

Cassandra writhed a little, seeming restless in her sleep. Her brow was furrowed and she murmured a whimpering, "Wait…" She must've been dreaming. Then, almost as if on cue, Jacob's arm tightened around her and Cassandra was calm instantly.

Okay, he needed to stop watching them. It was getting creepy. "Ms. Cillian, Stone," They didn't move. He sharply inhaled. "Cassandra," he said louder. " _Stone_ ," he said even louder.

Jacob jumped, his eyes jolting open in a startle. He then jerked back a little, seeing Flynn. "What the he-" he was half asleep as he hissed, "What the hell are you doin' here man?"

Flynn eyed Cassandra, then back at Jake. "We have a treasure map to follow, my fellow Librarian."

Jake took a moment to realize his surroundings – like Cassandra curled up in his arms. He would've pulled away but his arm was gripped on to; if he pulled away she'd wake up. He then twisted around to see the clock. "It's-! Its four in the morning?"

"It's better to get up before the sun does, Stone. Get an early start to the day."

Jacob dropped his head on the pillow, which also happened to have Cassandra's hair on it. He groaned. "Baird must really love ya to put up with this crap."

"Don't be ridiculous, Stone." Flynn laughed a little, heading towards the door. "Eve will be asleep in the car. I never can get her to wake up 'till _at least_ eight. That's why I need you," he looked at him, standing in the open door. "You are the designated driver."

Stone growled. "Why can't you-?"

The door closed, Flynn gone. Stone really struggled to find the good qualities in Flynn at times like these.

Cassandra rustled around, seeming to wake up. Her eyes fluttered open, and then she froze. Jacob could tell she was also a little thrown off by their circumstances, which gave him comfort that he hadn't forgotten anything from last night.

"Um…" Cassandra said to herself, now gently pulling up his arm to release herself from his hold. Jacob debated if he should let her know he was awake or he should just fake it. He chose to fake it, letting her assume he was still fast asleep. Minimized the awkwardness.

Cassandra laid his arm on his side and scooted away some, wiggling from his grasp. She then just laid there, watching his face – he was so peaceful when asleep. She wasn't expecting to wake up like this, but she honestly wasn't opposed. It almost felt… natural.

Jake couldn't help but wonder what she was doing, just lying there. He felt her soft breath on his nose, and all he could imagine was that she was staring at him. He wanted to open his eyes, but he chose against it, and then he felt Cassandra get up from the bed. After a moment he realized he would have to wake up, and then explain to Cassandra that Flynn just recently told them they had to leave soon, yet he had fallen back asleep somehow. He rustled around and opened his eyes, seeing Cassandra drag her feet to the bathroom. That explained why she was willingly awake so early.

Jake decided to get up and get dressed, before Flynn decided to come back with Eve. As he sorted through his small amount of clothing options, Cassandra came out of the bathroom, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"What're you doing?" She tried to focus her eyes on the clock by the bed. "Its four in the morning."

Jacob looked up at her and smiled. "Mornin' to you, too." He sighed, ready to explain, when Cassandra groaned. She then grabbed something off the door and showed him the sticky note that was stuck on there. He couldn't read it, due to the lack of light in the room, but Cassandra would soon explain.

"Flynn does realize we actually need sleep, right?" Her comment made Stone assume the sticky note was from Flynn, and it said the gist of what he said to him earlier.

Jacob grunted. "I reckon in his mind we did get enough sleep."

She let out a short breath through her nose and heaved her body weight to her bed she had yet to sleep in. Cassandra was a morning person, he knew she was, but even this early (plus after falling asleep so late) was too much for her body to handle. She collapsed on the bed. "I'll just sleep. You guys go ahead; I'll meet you there later."

Stone snickered a laugh. "Really think Flynn will let you sleep in if he doesn't even let _Baird_?"

Cassandra groaned. "There better be coffee."

Jacob smiled to himself. He had to agree, there _better_ be coffee.

* * *

Ya know, I really shouldn't spend my nights watching TV and movies when I know I have a Librarian known as Flynn Carsen leading this … whatever this was. Let's call it a Treasure Hunt. After I finished watching this movie on TV I fell asleep, but that was probably around one in the morning. Needless to say, I hate Flynn right about now.

However, I don't regret watching the movie. It was _awesome_. Never seen it before, and I should've, because like I said, it was awesome! Can't remember the name, but I remember this one scene in the end that was _great_. _"Nobody puts baby in the corner."_

That should be my next plan. I think I could make some dance lessons happen. Couldn't be too hard, yeah? I mean, we already seem to take some random vacations as it is. Shouldn't be too hard to convince Baird.

As I was thinking of how I could make that work, Cassandra and Stone themselves entered the lobby of the hotel. Cassandra looked like the walking dead, and Stone surprisingly looked _chipper_. Never thought I'd ever call Stone chipper. If I didn't know any better I'd think a body swap happened last night, and I'd be playing a role in _Freaky Friday._ Yeah, I watched that last night, too. Not as great, but still worth the reference, I think.

"Mornin', Red." I gave her a smirk. She just glared at me.

"There ain't any coffee." Stone said to me, saying it a little hushed so Cassandra wouldn't hear. "She's not exactly happy 'bout it."

Cassandra crossed her arms and pouted. "Can we just get out of here so I can go back to sleep?"

Eve, entering the lobby with Flynn, raised her hand. "I am with Cassandra on that. Hundred percent."

"Then," Flynn said with a spring in his step, "Let's be off!"

I could rent a house at a retreat for a week. Sign Casone – no, no, nope. Cassandra and Stone up for dance class but tell the instructor not to show up. Nah, Stone would just show her how to line dance – no one needs to know that. _Ever_.

I'd figure it out. I've got plenty of time!

* * *

"Ezekiel," I felt my arm being rattled around.

" _Jones_ ," Stone yelled in his deep, gravelly voice. I winced open my eyes to see Cassandra and Stone staring at me. Not a sight I expected to see.

"C'mon, we've gotta catch up with Flynn and Eve." Cassandra said gently, acting her normal self again.

"Wait," I sat up, seeing we were still in the car. We were parked, mountains in view, and Flynn and Eve out of sight. "Where are we?"

Stone groaned. "Where'd ya think?"

I rubbed my eyes. "We're here already?"

Cassandra handed me a bag of unknown food. "We've been on the road for hours. We just couldn't get you to wake up."

"Got ya some food when we stopped for lunch." Stone informed. Now that I was awake I could see that Cassandra was sitting in the car with me, Stone at my right – but outside, standing out the door.

Okay, so maybe I didn't have all the time in the world to think of a plan. But that was all right, I'd have plenty of time on the way _back_.

"Jenkins called," Cassandra started. "The clippings book gave us a mission. Flynn has given us today to find this lost treasure of … something, and then we're taking the back door back to Portland."

Fate just wasn't on my side today, was it?

"Right," I cleared my throat and ran a hand through my hair. "Lost treasure you say? Is there a means of finding it?" I raised a brow.

"Yeah," Stone answered. "Flynn's followin' the map now. If you hurry up, we can probably catch 'em."

"Right, totally," I jumped out of the car, bag of food in my hand. "Let's go find ourselves some buried treasure!"

* * *

Cassandra watched as Ezekiel practically leaped ahead, stuffing a burger in his mouth as he ran. Guess it made sense – a master thief _would_ find stolen treasure that's now lost and going to be stolen and/or claimed by whoever finds it first fun. Cassandra found it fun like a game of sorts, but it wasn't exactly making her want to do whatever means necessary to find it. Normally, well maybe. But she was a bit distracted by the guy walking next to her, looking ashamed by the enthusiastic Aussie thief.

Ever since she woke up this morning, waking up by his side, feeling so… comfortable – ever since then she's had this pit in her stomach. A pit that doesn't seem to want to go away. This pit also always seems to become a whole lot more apparent every time she looks Jake in the eyes. She didn't know what it was at first, but around lunch she figured it out. She needed to tell him how she felt – _soon._ It almost worried her. Not the telling him part, no that _terrified_ her. What worried her was why she felt this sudden rush. Her brain grape was pretty impressive with stuff, but it never could tell the future. Yet, for some bizarre reason, she felt like it was trying to signal her to confess before it was too late.

She grabbed his arm, stopping them in their tracks. "Hey, um," she started, looking him the eyes. Jake looked concerned.

"You all right?"

"Yeah, yeah," she sighed. She could do this. "I just… I need to tell you something." He looked at her expectantly. How on earth was she going to say this. It was so random, so out of the blue. "I just – I've realized – or, I've _known_ for a while now, really, but I just… I need to say that I-"

"Guys, guys." Ezekiel came running up beside them, taking heavy breaths. "You know that ol' lune at the diner yesterday? He told me not to order the omelet?"

Cassandra huffed. "What about him, Ezekiel?"

"Look." He pointed behind them. Jake and her both turned, seeing the exact man, standing on a hill, watching them. "Creepy, right?"

Cassandra shook her head. "That's … that can't be him, right? A sweet old man, _stalking_ us?"

"He was at the hotel last night, mate." Jones said. "I told myself I just needed some sleep – but there he is. _Watching_ us."

"We need to find Flynn and Baird." Jacob said, voice gruff. "This could have to do with whatever this dang treasure of his is about."

They left to find Flynn, Cassandra's thoughts completely diverted from her previous inner thinking. But every time she caught Jake's eye, that pit never failed to come back to bite.

* * *

So I _might've_ gotten carried away about the whole old guy thing and possibly interrupted Cassandra and Stone from having a probably very revealing and big-development-in-my-plan moment. I blame the burger. I was too distracted about how fantastic is tasted that I forgot about anything else – that is until Old Guy Creeps a Lot came 'round. But, I mean, _treasure_ and _food_? A bloke can only take so much on his mind at once. Doesn't matter anyway, right? They've made plenty of progress just in these few _days_. Besides, if it really had to be said it would be said. Cassandra usually can't keep it in for too long before she pops.

That reminds me, I'm a bit parched. I could use a soda pop right 'bout now.

"So the same man who told Jones to not eat an omelet is here right now, on the grounds?" Baird said with a raised brow. Her and Flynn shared a look before she said, "And this should worry us _why_?"

"Well, it's a little on the weird side, ain't it?" Stone said, Cassandra at his side. I chose to lean on the wall and observe. See how the two love birds approached the subject to the Librarian and Guardian. "I mean, the guy was at the hotel last night, and today he was just standin' there – watchin' us."

"If we were normal people living ordinary lives maybe I would shrug it off as a coincidence," Cassandra chirped in. "But we're not exactly normal, last time I checked. More like … abnormal."

Flynn nodded, unfolding his arms from across his chest. "Cassandra's right. Take away the creepiness this elderly gentleman clearly seems to possess and we still seem to have a case that's out of the ordinary. Fits right up our alley, does it not?"

Baird sighed. "Yes, it does. But that doesn't mean we need to take on _another_ mission. Can we please just finish this one first? Then we can go chase ghosty old men who have an irrational fear of omelets?"

Cassandra's brow was scrunched up as she said, "I would like to think that search wouldn't be too vast."

"Ghost – Eve! You're a genius!" Flynn gave her a kiss on the forehead, Eve blushing.

"What'd I do?"

"Don't you all see?" Flynn said with a grin on his face.

"Considering that _you_ just figured it out yourself … I'd say probably not." Cassandra said with a smug expression. We all just stared at him blank faces after her comment.

"This is the clue we've been looking for! Ha! The map has been giving it to us this whole time! We just had to look to see!"

"I'm confused." I said. "What's a clue?"

"'Look and you will see. See and you will find.' That's it!"

"Flynn," Baird said, her voice trying to hide her irritation. "Explanation? Please?"

"Right, right, right, sorry, just assumed at least Cassandra was catching on."

Cassandra glared, clearly finding that statement a challenge. She then huffed and said, "The man following us is a clue to the map of whatever treasure hunt this is."

Flynn grinned. "Exactly! Nice job, Ms. Cillian, I knew-"

"So this old guy," I started, walking up to the group. "He's a clue? And he keeps showing himself to _me_?"

Flynn looked at me, his face fallen. "Jones might have a point."

"No, barb wire fences gotta point. Jones? He's got nothin' but schemes."

 _Stone's_ gotta a point. But still, ouch. "Hey," I looked at him with a hand over my heart. "I got feelings too, ya know."

Stone just rolled his eyes and grunted. To be expected.

"No, no it _is_ interesting that it would single one out of all of us." Flynn placed a hand on his chin, staring at me as he thought. "The question is _why_."

"Isn't it obvious?" I could see everyone basically cringing, knowing exactly what I'm going to say. "It's because I'm _awesome_."

"You know, Jones, you've gotta a _great_ point," Baird's voice carried deep tones of sarcasm. "But I think we might need to keep thinking up a reason."

"Yeah, a _good_ reason." Stone mumbled.

It's all right. They're just too blind to see my greatness – it's called denial. They'll get there, one day.

"Oo!" Cassandra squeaked. "What if – what if it's the _opposite_ of what Ezekiel said?" We all looked at her confused. Obviously because that was _ridiculous_. "This treasure, it was stolen, right? I mean, all lost treasure is usually lost because it was stolen and someone had to hide it."

Flynn nodded. "Well, yes, stolen by pirates. They took it from the Queen of Spain herself."

"Okay! So, _that's_ it!"

We all just looked at her a little longer. I finally asked, " _What's_ it?"

"Pirates were thieves!"

Cassandra might actually be losing it.

Stone's face lit up though, seeming to finally be catching on. "And who, out of all of us, is the dang ghost hauntin'?"

Baird and Flynn finally caught on, looking at me. "The thief." They said in unison.

The _greatest_ thief, _ever_ , thank you very much. " _I think_ what you mean is the _best_ thief, ever. As in, to ever live."

Cassandra blinked. "Right. Point is, this man, _he's_ a ghost of one of the pirates who buried this treasure in the first place."

"Wait, wait, hold on here for a minute," Baird scoffed, "We're not _actually_ saying this guys a _real_ ghost … right?"

"Eve," Flynn paused, searching through his satchel. "We work with magic on a daily basis. A simple ghost isn't going to make you question things, is it?"

"What? No. Of course not. Just … really?" She said with another laugh. "A _ghost_? A pirate ghost, for that matter! That's just...!" She looked at us and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Santa Clause is real, pirate ghosts might as well be, too."

"Ah ha!" Flynn pulled out what looked to be another treasure map. It was rolled up like a scroll and an old, deteriorating string tied it closed. Flynn untied it in an instant and scanned the document. He then rolled it back up and looked at Cassandra, Stone, and I. "This ghost – describe him."

"Umm," Cassandra furrowed her brows. "His clothes sagged off his shoulders, like they were too big."

"Or-" Stone snapped his fingers and grinned at Cassandra. "Like they were _wet_."

"Oh! Yes!"

"He also had white hair," Stone listed off, "on the long side."

Cassandra scrunched up her nose. "He had a very scruffy, untrimmed beard."

"Uhh, he was old." I stated. "What else matters? The guy was a freakin' pirate – let's go summon the guy or whatever and find us some bloody treasure!"

"Because, Jones, this 'old guy' you've made friends with may not be the happy, lucky guide to the treasure like I had hoped." Flynn sighed, putting the document back in his bag. "The man you just described was not exactly what historians would call a friendly pirate."

"There were _friendly_ pirates in the history books?" Baird retorted.

"Yes, actually. Black Beard was surprisingly quite a catch." Flynn shook his head. "The point of the matter is legends say this ghost of yours is _why_ no one has ever found this treasure."

I folded my arms over my chest. "But I thought you said he was the _clue_ from the treasure map?"

Flynn sighed. "He is."

I think it was safe to say I was never going on treasure hunts for fun again.

* * *

We were now scavenging for treasure in a damp, moldy cave, avoiding Ol' Man Omelet, and Cassandra was humming Whistle While We Work.

Did I mention I hated group bonding trips?

"Jones, keep up!" Baird hollered back at me. I grumbled in reply, picking up my pace. I voted we call up Ol' Man Omelet and ask him where the treasure was. Everyone else voted that it was best to _not_ risk our lives for buried treasure.

Risk is the whole fun of survival! Probably why the ol' wet ghost picked me in the first place. He knew I would do anything to find it – I would _risk_ anything. The guy probably just wants to see some spine for once. So what he had a reputation for guiding people to the treasure and also to their death – we could fight 'em, yeah? Ghosts don't scare me.

"Jones, if you don't hurry it up I'm gonna let the ghosts kill you instead!" Baird shouted at me again. I leaped ahead, catching up with Cassandra and Stone.

All right, so maybe just a little scared. Could you blame me though? The stories Flynn gave us were _brutal._ I'm too young and incredibly awesome to die now. Besides, there's no way I'm dying in _Canada_. I shivered at the thought.

Walking closely behind Stone and Red I could sadly now hear Cassandra's humming much more clearly, but I could also now see how close they were walking together. This whole ghost thing has got me so wrapped up in the treasure, I almost forgot about my brilliantly awesome plan. Stone said something to her, but it was too low for me to understand. Cassandra giggled and they kept walking.

Seems to me my plan is fool proof. That said, they still haven't hugged. Not that I know of anyway – there's always the possibility they hugged when I wasn't around to see. But I doubt it, they're still acting stiff around each other. Guess I'm just going to have to intervene again … somehow. It'll come to me. It always does.

We all seemed to stop so I looked ahead, seeing a wall covered in writing. Most of it were warnings to go back.

"We're getting close." Cassandra said to Stone.

"Yeah," Stone grumbled. "Just can't help but feel like that's a bad thing."

"We'll be fine – we're Librarians!"

Stone scoffed a little, smiling at her. "Considering what Flynn has for clues is from dead Librarians, that doesn't give me a heck of a lot of comfort."

Cassandra tightened her lips and nodded. "Good point. But still," she gripped his forearm, giving it a tight squeeze. "We'll be fine. I can feel it."

He grinned down at her. "Well Cassie, it's a good thing I have a whole lot more faith in you than in that map of Flynn's."

Cassandra beamed back at him, her arm now tight around his.

When I make progress, I _really_ make progress, don't I? I should get an award. Award for being _that_ awesome.

"Stone," Flynn shouted out to him. "Right or left?"

Stone looked up, seeing all the writing. He scanned it for a while, reading the different languages, the different messages. "Am I crazy to say neither?"

"C'mon, we can't back out now, Jake." Cassandra said.

"No, I don't mean to turn back either. Everything's sayin' not to go left, or not to go right. I say fine, then we go straight."

"I'm guessing you don't have a clue on how to do that?" I asked. I actually am a bit intrigued. Couldn't let Stone know that, of course.

"No, no, you're on to something there, Jacob." Flynn looked overly excited again. "Of course, why didn't I think of it? Jones, you're the master thief. Come, help me find some kind of trigger or lever."

I walked around the two love birds and approached the wall. The first thing I noticed was an obvious discoloration in the rock. I felt around it, until I found an opening hidden in plain sight. I slid my index finger in and –

Hearing a rumbling sound I looked back to see a wall now behind us. That was not there before.

"Flynn!" Baird's voice strained.

Flynn twisted around. "Oh no."

There was also no Cassandra and Stone. This was probably not good, at all.

On the upside, the wall in front of us opened, so treasure for me...?

* * *

Without even realizing what had happened, Cassandra felt Jake pull her back from a wall squishing her into a pancake. They were on the ground in a swift moment, and all Cassandra had to do was blink before it occurred to her that the very wall trying to crush her now blocked her off from the rest of the team.

Cassandra jolted up, banging a hand on the stone wall. "No!" She let out an exasperated sigh and looked back at Jake.

"Dangit." Jacob grumbled. "I'm sorry, Cass." He started to stand, dusting off his jeans. "I was just tryin' to get us outta the way." He wagged his head, clearly upset. "I instead got us stuck."

"No," Cassandra gave him a small, sympathetic smile. "Jake, this isn't your fault." She looked back at the wall, irritated that they were cut off. But they could find their way to them, right? Cassandra turned to see a new wall behind them as well. When Jacob said they were stuck he wasn't lying. They were trapped inside a cell made of rock.

"Like I said," he grunted, now dusting off his hands. "Thanks to me, we're stuck."

"You did nothing but save our lives." Cassandra said with a huff. "I'm sure there's an easy way out of this." Then she realized – oxygen. They were trapped, and sealed. They were going to run out of air, probably fairly soon. There better be an easy way out.

"Well, got any ideas?"

She looked up, eyes panicked. _You have to stay calm, Cassandra._ She could keep a cool head. No big right? She stepped closer to him to feel something under her foot click – then a large rumble graveled under them. She looked back up. "Jake, what's happening?"

Before Jacob could answer the walls started moving – moving in.

The small space they were held captive in was getting smaller, inch by inch.

* * *

 _Reviews are like pie.  
_ _I love pie._

 _Hey, no really, I might make jokes with comparing reviews to food, but you guys are the bomb dot com. Thank you so much for your reviews, favorites, and follows. Your support is the only reason I keep updating and writing, which honestly has been a struggle since the finale. Please, don't stop reviewing. Your review, saying even something small like "lol Ezekiel made me laugh" could be the only reason you get another chapter.  
_ _Have a great week! (Hail Hydra ;) )_


	8. Hugs and Near Death Experiences

_A/N: Sorry for me taking forever to update. I have Spring Break right now - it literally took my two sittings to write all of this and before break I didn't even have that kind of time._

 _Hope you guys enjoy!_

* * *

"All right, it's going to be okay, don't panic." Jacob tried to say as calmly as he possibly could.

"Little too late for that!"

"Hey, look at me," Cassandra resisted, but then looked up. They met eyes and she instantly felt secure. "You ain't about to die. We're gonna figure this out, all right?"

Her head wobbled up and down, tears building in her eyes. "How?"

"How Librarians always do – with knowledge. We got brains, don't we? Let's use 'em."

Cassandra took in a deep breath, her eyes clamped shut. Equations started to slowly fill her mind, then suddenly, like a gust of wind, her mind was overpowered with equations and numbers. She recoiled, letting out a shriek from the pain. Feeling Jake's hand gripping hers she opened her eyes, seeing the walls still inching closer.

"Hey, hey," he said softly, getting her to look back at him. She met his eyes and she abruptly felt that pit gnawing in her stomach. "Forget about the walls. Just try to breathe and focus."

Cassandra took in another deep inhale, nodding. "Right. Like the smell of strawberries."

"Yeah, strawberries. Whatever makes ya happy."

At that, she wasn't imagining strawberries. She wasn't imagining anything. 'Whatever made her happy' was currently holding her hands in comfort.

"Cass," Cassandra's eyelids lifted, seeing Jake staring at something behind her. She followed his eyes and saw the wall behind them, one that was not moving. There were words printed on it, not in English, but in Spanish.

"'Heaven is no haven for a king.'" Jacob looked at her, almost like he didn't believe it. "It's a clue."

Cassandra looked to her side, the walls practically touching them by now. She forced herself to focus. "This sounds like a history exam, Jake, not physics."

He looked back at her, his hands tightly gripping the sides of her arms now. "You're right." His brow furrowed, clearly trying to figure it out. "Heaven is no haven. Is it just implyin' death?"

"No, it has to mean something. It wants something. If heaven isn't a safe haven, then what is?"

Jacob let loose of her arms, reeling his out in thwart. "Their ship, the sea? That ain't it. They mentioned it for a king, that has to mean somethin', right?"

"Well, this treasure was taken from royalty. What would've been somewhere that was safe for them once they had stolen their loot?"

Jacob thought about it. "For these pirates? I'd assume Canada, considerin' they traveled all the way from the Spanish seas to Canada's dry land to _hide_ their treasure."

The walls were inches from touching their shoulders.

"It _has_ to want something more specific."

"A royal safe haven… -" He looked at her, a grin on his face. "Port Royal!"

The walls stopped – a loud crash of stone echoing the caves. Jacob and Cassandra looked at each other, both breathing heavily, awe covering their faces.

Cassandra laughed out of pure joy, slinging her arms around Jacob's neck and squeezing him tight. Jake wrapped her arms around her torso, hugging her back. After a moment Cassandra pulled back and she met his eyes again, but this time the pit in her stomach wasn't there, but instead, the urge to kiss him senseless. It might have all been her imagination, but she couldn't help but feel that Jacob was thinking the same thing. His eyes broke from hers and glimpsed her lips before they ambled back, a look in his eyes she'd never seen before. With his hands now on her waist, she could have sworn they were slinking closer and closer to each other. Cassandra watched his mouth, their lips seconds from meeting –

A loud roar boomed from behind them. They both looked, out of surprise, to see a door way now slid open for them to escape. After taking a moment to snap back to reality they hurried out, the moment between them forgotten.

For now.

* * *

I swear I slid their phones back in their pockets this morning as they left the hotel. Yet, I couldn't help but feel like the lack of signal and answering of calls was somehow my fault. Baird knew there was no chance of reaching them down here but she wouldn't seem to stop, calling them over and over as we watched the wall that had just randomly appeared sink farther and farther away from us.

"Flynn," Baird said panicked. " _Do something_."

"Do what, Eve? You're the Guardian, why don't _you_ do something?"

"Oh, hey, guys," I voiced.

"Because, _Flynn_ , I'm not the Librarian. I don't think myself out of tough situations or solve impossible puzzles. You know what I do? I punch people! And right now, the only person I want to punch _is you_!"

"Guys," My voice _might_ be showing slight irritation.

"Really? Is threatening really the way to go, Eve?"

Okay, they _really_ needed to shut up. " _Guys_ , the wall, it-"

"If it gets you to save the lives of those two Librarians, then yes!"

"What do you want me to do? Say 'Abracadabra' and make everything okay?"

"Maybe!"

" _Baird, Flynn_!"

They turned their heads towards me, but quickly were taken by the wall. "Oh, hey," Flynn commented, nonchalantly. "The wall stopped moving."

I groaned. "Really? I didn't notice."

"It's okay, Jones." Flynn patted my shoulder. I rolled my eyes. "One day, just maybe, you might be just as observant as I."

"I really hope not. For all our sakes." I quipped. Flynn of course chose not to hear it. Baird went back into her worried-mom zone and pulled out her phone again. "Baird," I said with a strange calmness in my tone. "I think we all know they won't answer."

Baird growled and tucked her phone back into her pocket. "I know. Flynn, you take Jones down towards the supposed treasure. I'm going to go back and look for –"

"Eve," Flynn furrowed his brow. "There's one way out of this cave, and that way would be towards the treasure."

"Yeah, remember? Exit sorta closed off out of nowhere." I leaned on the wall, knowing I probably shouldn't, considering the previous booby-trap.

"We can't just leave them – we have no idea if they're even safe. With this ghost around-"

"Cassandra and Stone can take care of themselves." Flynn said firmly. "They're Librarians. If they got out, which I'm highly certain they did, then they are likely on their way to the treasure as we speak. We need to get a move on – so they don't bump into the ghost without our help."

"Right." I nodded. "Mr. Soggy Ghost Pants is probably just guarding his prized possessions now."

After a while of persuading, Baird relentlessly followed suit and we headed for the treasure once again. Let's just hope this time I don't run into anymore booby-traps.

* * *

Cassandra and Jacob had followed this tunnel for a while and they were starting to wonder if it would ever end. At least end where they would want it to end; preferably not their death. They have had one too many near death experiences for once day.

The tunnel took a turn in the path and Cassandra found herself mindlessly following Jacob, lost in thought. She knew she should be thinking about the mission – she was completely on board for finding this treasure and saving the day, what not. However, she found herself distracted, like she had been a lot recently. But – _they almost kissed_. It wasn't all in her head, right? She shook her head, trying to stay on task. Their emotions got the best of them – they almost died and they got overly excited. It was a normal circumstance for anyone who almost died, right? … Right?

Jacob cleared his throat, taking a glance her way. He was acting strangely awkward ever since the almost slip up of lips meeting. She needed to watch herself – like literally, she just about tripped on her face. She needed to pay attention to where she was walking and stop thinking on purely one thing.

"Hey, uh," Jake stopped in his tracks. Cassandra followed suit, watching his eyes. He stared at her, searching her face, like he was looking for an answer before he even asked the question.

Cassandra crinkled her brow. "You okay?"

Jacob sighed, almost as if his words were useless to him now. He gently grabbed her hand and he took a step closer to her; Cassandra could have sworn he was going to kiss her. His eyes were on her and her alone, he was leaning in closer, Cassandra thought she was going crazy – and then his phone rang.

Cassandra was not amused. "Do we even have phone signal down here?"

Jake growled under his breath as he reached for his phone. Once he pulled it out his face changed to confusion. He gave Cassandra a skeptical look before answering, "Hello?"

 _"_ _Port Royal is found – but safe haven is lost."_

The line went dead.

Jake looked at Cassandra with a fearful expression. "I need to get you outta here."

Cassandra frowned. "I'm perfectly capable of saving myself, Jake."

Jake groaned. "Now's really not the time, Cass."

Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Oh right, because normally you're completely open to hearing me want to be independent for a change."

"Cassie," Jake looked at her, his eyes filled with concern. He put out hand for her to take and he pleadingly said, "Please."

Cassandra sighed, but took his hand and gripped it tight. "This doesn't mean I'm not saving you in return."

Jacob grinned at her, despite their circumstances. "You won't hear me arguin'."

And they made a run for it, as fast as they could in a dark, poorly lit tunnel, until they finally found their destination. After a long run of twist, turns, running into walls, and bumping foreheads on rock, they found an exit brightly lit and open wide.

Cassandra found herself holding Jake's hand even tighter as their eyes caught sight of what their mission here was for this whole time - the treasure. However, the soul leaning _on_ the treasure brought the tight grips between Cassandra and Jake's hands.

"Well," the old man looked up at them, a sneer distorting his face. "Where's your thief about?"

Cassandra sighed. "Why do I get the feeling us being separated from them was much more purposeful then I suspected previously?"

Jake scoffed. "Seems he did the math. Figured splittin' us up made it easier on ya, huh?"

The ghost cackled.

Cassandra's grip tightened again, a gasp escaping her mouth. "Jake," He looked down at her, meeting her eyes. "Ezekiel."

* * *

"So, Flynn, I gotta know. _Why_ exactly did you think a murderous ghost would be a good bonding trip for all of us?"

Baird practically punched me in the stomach at that. "Shush." She scolded me.

Flynn looked back, a defeated smile covering his face. He dropped his arms in a subdued shrug and said, "Well, Jones, I wish I could say my Librarian intuition kicked in – but clearly, as we can all tell from my failure in this choice of mission, I seem to have none of such thing."

I scrunched my brow and scoffed. "Geez, mate, wasn't asking for a self-pity party. Just wanted to know if you had a thing for Ghost Hunter's or somethin'."

Baird was scowling at me, _again_. Flynn looked at me and let out an exasperated breath.

"You're right, Jones." Flynn said with a chirp in his voice. "There's no time for blaming myself for something that is clearly not my fault. We should focus on the mission at hand!"

"Yeah, definitely didn't say anything remotely similar to that."

"Stay focused – eye on the ball. Save the day at all cost."

" _All cost_? That is implying my life, yeah? 'Cause I'm not really feelin' like dying for some buried treasure. Least not right now. Maybe give me an hour." At that comment I expected to feel another punch on the arm by Baird. I turned my head to take a look at her, but instead found my side empty. "Baird?"

"Flynn, where'd Baird go –" I looked back towards Flynn to now find myself completely alone. Not just alone, but in a different environment. My skin was warm, the sun blazing down on me. Birds were chirping, frogs were croaking. I looked down – my feet standing beside still waters. "What the h-"

* * *

"Jones?" Baird jumped, Ezekiel collapsing to the ground in a matter of seconds. Baird rushed to his side, shaking his arm. "Jones!" She looked at Flynn, his face just as much in shock. "Flynn. What just happened?"

Flynn sighed, giving Baird a stern expression. "The ghost."

Baird's eyes got wide.

* * *

Jake watched him shift from one leg to the other, he put his body weight on the chest sitting in the center of the wide-open cavern. Cassandra's hand slipped from Jake's as she inched closer, Jacob still just watching him intently. "What have you done with Ezekiel?"

"The thief is out of me hair."

Cassandra looked back at Jacob, both sharing a mutually fearsome look.

"No thief, no treasure."

"Why is that?" Cassandra questioned. "Why was Ezekiel such a requirement?"

"He was the chosen one." He said in a hush. "The Librarian."

Cassandra and Jacob met eyes. Jacob took another step closer. "This Librarian," Jake started. "Was he who could open the treasure?"

The old man eyed him before saying, "Thee who fights and thee who discovers, thee whose thy wish is to uncover. Buried or burned, it won't affect, unless the one who seeketh finally collects."

"Well that was beyond vague." Cassandra commented. "No wonder you had no idea."

He glared at her, his stare scornful and blunt. "The thief collects the thief retrieves."

"Would it kill ya to stop with all the dang cryptic rhymes?" Jacob stopped, letting out a breath. "It's not helpin' anyone here."

"Thee who reads the books of life is chosen to collect the treasure of strife."

Cassandra crossed her arms, letting out a huff. "He's not really getting it, is he?"

"No, Cass, it doesn't seem like he is."

"What'd you mean?" the man stood up from his perch, straightening his back. "Don't come any closer – don't move a muscle."

"Or what? It's not like we can get the treasure – I mean, it's not like I'm a Librarian, right Jake?"

"Yeah, no, Cass. Only Librarian I know is, well … me."

The man's eyes bulged from his skull – he looked Jake up and down, taking another step from the chest. " _You_ are the thief of legend?"

"I like to think of it as the _stuff_ of legend, but that's just me personally."

" _How_?"

Jake smirked.

* * *

I wiggled my fingers around, feeling the fresh air envelop me. I took in a deep breath, and then found myself panicking. "What the bloody _hell_."

I stepped ahead, and suddenly my balance was almost nonexistent. Without control, I started falling to my side, sinking into the water, without any splash within entrance. Suddenly, I was engulfed in a river – everything still around me.

 _"_ _Jones,"_ I could hear, muffled. _"Ezekiel Jones, answer me,"_

My eyes closed, the water filling my lungs.

* * *

"I'll make you a deal." Jake crossed his arms, watching the ghost twitch. "You undo whatever the hell you did to the thief, I promise I won't take your gold."

The old man's mouth curved into a grin. " _Gold_?" He scoffed. "Whoever said my treasure is my gold?"

Cassandra stepped beside Jake. "Does it matter? He made you an offer. I advise you take it before he changes his mind."

"Honestly, I could live without Jones." He shrugged. "Actually make life easier for a change."

The man scowled at them. However, his face withdrew, and at that his shoulders relaxed and dropped, limp.

* * *

"Jones!"

I leaped up, rejecting water from my lungs the moment I felt oxygen surround me once again. Baird and Flynn were at my side, Baird pulling me into a hug the moment I could breathe air again.

"Um, Baird,"

"Are you okay?" She pulled back, acting like her normal motherly self. I just nodded ahead, causing Baird and Flynn's heads to follow. We now were in an open cave with Cassandra, Stone, a treasure chest, and the ghost.

"There," the old ghost guy stated to Stone. "Now leave."

"Whoa, whoa," I shakily stood up from my spot, giving a look towards the two love birds, then back to the ghostly omelet hater. "I'm not going anywhere – you just tried to bloody kill me!"

The ghost tilted his head. "I tried to do so to all."

I scoffed. "Wow. Not much of a guide, are you?"

He tweaked a brow. "Guide?"

"Yeah, ya know. One who shows us the safe passage to our destination. You've done a real lousy job, mate. You should really work on your people skills."

"You know nothing – you are merely a follower."

"Follower?" I let out a laugh. "Uhh, sorry to disappoint, but I'm the best thief in the whole world –"

"Ezekiel," Cassandra tried to say.

"Ya know, actually, I'm _more_ than that. I'm a bloody Librarian. And you? You're just a grumpy old man who _desperately_ needed a bath a good hundred years ago. And you know what else you are?"

The old man looked stunned – almost like he was in shock from what I was telling him. Something he should already _know_ , obviously. I stepped right in front of him, and the ghost finally raised a hand – ready to send me back wherever he just sent me. I eyed him, saying in his face, "You're in my way."

The old guizer then dove his hand right for my heart, but before he could do anything, I ripped a piece of paper in two – the old man looked me in the eyes, terrified, and then _poof_. He was gone.

Flynn's treasure map floated down to the dusty ground, now shredded from my own hands. "'Bout time. I was really getting bored with his role."

Cassandra, Jacob, Flynn, and Baird all stared at me in awe.

"Ezekiel…" Cassandra said in shock.

"I know, I know. I ripped the ancient artifact. But, I figured if he was following us from the map, without the map he'd stop following. I'd say it was a lucky guess, but –"

Suddenly I felt Cassandra embracing me, her arms wrapped around my neck. "I'm just glad you're not dead." She said over my shoulder. I smiled, hugging her back.

Cassandra pulled away when we heard Stone scoff. "Figures," He mumbled, staring down inside the treasure chest.

"What is it?" Red probed.

"The treasure. You know how he said it wasn't gold?" Stone asked, Cassandra nodded. "Well, it's not gold."

Flynn rushed by his side, seeing the inside of the chest himself. Flynn's eyes grew big. Baird stepped over to see as well, and her head tilted to the side. "Is that a … book?" She asked, her brows furrowed.

Flynn grinned. "Yes, my dear Eve. And it's not just any book. It's the book of life."

I rolled my eyes. "Are you telling me I almost died for a _book_?"

* * *

The mission was over, _finally_. Flynn got his oh-so precious book – apparently, he knew about it being a book, but he keeps saying that the greatest treasure is the gift of knowledge. Whatever that means. I just really wanted some cash – I could _really_ use a new phone. On a side note, don't steal Stone's phone. He will find you, and throw _your_ cell in the nearest water bank.

I walked beside Baird up to the car while Flynn tries to find a way to open the back door wide enough for our car to fit. I realized, as Baird gave me another lecture about being reckless, that Cassandra and Stone were out of sight. Me, being the awesome instigator of hugs, left Baird's side to go find them. I roamed around, until finally I spotted them on a lower cliff down from me – but I could hear every word.

"I was impressed by Ezekiel today," Cassandra said to Stone. "He really showed his true courage."

Stone shrugged. "I gotta admit, I didn't expect that from _Jones_. But I'm not real sure if it was less courage, and more pride that brought on his act of bravery."

Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Don't be so hard on him. He did save us, after all."

Stone nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I'll make sure to thank 'em later. After I knock him across the head for being so dang reckless."

Cass giggled. "You're one to talk."

Stone raised a brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Jake, you lied to a ghost that had just admitted on _killing_ 'the Librarian' that _you_ were the Librarian, just so he'd save Jones' life instead." She crossed her arms, looking him in the eyes. "That wasn't just only risky, it was _heroic_. Now, was that heroism from courage, or pride?"

Stone groaned, but still smiled at her. "All right, you gotta point. Maybe I don't have much room to talk."

"No, not really." She smiled back. "But still. You were quite the hero today – so thank you."

"I just convinced a ghost he killed the wrong guy, Cassie."

"Not just then. You also saved us from being smashed into pancakes, and you did everything to protect me from that ghost."

"I was just doing my job, Cass."

"Librarians jobs aren't to protect Librarians. That's the –"

"I mean my job as your friend – I ain't about to let you get hurt."

Cassandra beamed at him. "Thank you." And before Jacob could respond, Cassandra was hugging him. Her arms wrapped around his rib-cage, her head laying on his shoulder. Jacob didn't even hesitate, he just quickly hugged her back, his head laying on hers.

Ezekiel Jones had done it. They had hugged at last. From the looks of this hug, it wasn't the only one from today, either.

Now to just get them to do the impossible – _kiss_.

* * *

 _And that's a wrap for the road trip plot! It went on for so long. I seriously meant it to be like 3 chapters tops.  
Next chapter will likely be a one-shot plot, and then the last two will be the end of it all._

 _Reviews are like dried apricots.  
I love dried apricots. _


	9. Mischief and Mistletoe

_A/N: Ohmygoodness guys! I wrote this for Christmas, and I was going to post it **on** Christmas - but my wifi was down! Then it came back the 26th and FanFiction was having technical difficulties and it wouldn't let me post!_

 _Yes, this is a chapter. I know, I **updated**?! It's also not the final one, so you're welcome. I give you a little chapter of Ezekiel trying to match up Jassandra with mistletoe. Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

It was Christmas time, Christmas is romantic, yeah? At least all those movies Cassandra watches non-stop seem to think so. Christmas was romantic, so what better time to get the two most stubborn people he knows to kiss? I mean, mistletoe's gotta be good for something, right?

My plan is quite simple, really. Baird and the Flynn went on vacation with Santa Clause, being weirdly exotic I might add, and oddly enough brought Jenkins with them. So, me – the most awesomest and trustworthy person I know, has been put in charge to babysit Santa's sleigh. With Cassandra and Stone's help, of course. So, what better time than to sprinkle a little Ezekiel Jones magic?

"Jones!" Stone yelled from the depths of the library. "Jones, I better not find you messin' 'round with that sleigh!"

I looked down, finding myself sitting in the very one. I must admit, I can't quite help myself. I jumped up from the sleigh, jerked the sheet over it, and leaned on the designated Jenkins counter all before Stone cowboy-walked his way into the room. He gave me a glare, checking me out up and down. He then looked at the sleigh suspiciously, then back at me. He pointed out his finger, his signature grumpy-cat face staring right at me. "I'm tellin' you Jones, no sleigh ridin'…" a smile twitched over his lips, "without me."

I grinned. "Wanna try it out?"

Stone's face lit up in a matter of seconds. "Do I?"

"Jake! Ezekiel!" Cassandra called us both, her cheery, squeaky voice ringing through the library. She came skipping in the room, Stone's attention directed to her and her alone. I couldn've sworn I saw heart literally forming in his eyes – the way he smiled when she entered a room was a bit nauseating, if I'm going to be completely honest.

"C'mon!" she cheered. "It's prezzies time!"

Stone and I gave each other puzzled looks. "Cas, we didn't know …" Stone started to explain.

"Oh, don't be silly, Jake. I didn't expect you guys to get me a gift already. My gift, however, must be given to you all early – otherwise you can't properly spread your Christmas cheer!"

We gave each other another look before both simultaneously saying,

"Right."

"Well, c'mon then!"

Stone gave my shoulder a pat as he started his way towards Cassandra. I, on the other hand, had something brilliantly clever cooking.

"I'll be right there, mate," I said, seeing Stone give me his regular furrowed brow.

"Somethin' wrong?"

"With me? Ah, nah, I just got to use the loo real quick. Be there before you can say 'Ezekiel Jones, most amazing human being to walk this earth.'"

Stone blinked. "Right, I'll get right on that." And he walked away, a snicker along with him. I smirked to myself as I reached inside my pocket, pulling out a handful of mistletoe. "This is going to be awesome."

* * *

"Where's Ezekiel?"

Stone just shrugged. "Dunno. He said he had to go use the bathroom, but in all honesty, he's probably off causin' us more trouble than he's worth."

Cassandra sighed. "You're probably right. Well, I guess we'll just have to wait on the gifts then. Can't open them without Ezekiel."

Cassandra then sat down right beside Stone, her smile at ease, her body loosening from all her constant tension. "Feels weird, just relaxing and enjoying Christmas for once, doesn't it?"

Stone scoffed. "I have to admit, it's a strange feelin', for sure. Not sure if I'm quite comfortable with it or not."

"Exactly. It just feels so… foreign." She let out a heavy exhale, her body leaning back in the chair. "It's most definitely a nice feeling, though."

He leaned back in his seat as well, his eyes resting. "Couldn't agree more."

"Ummm," Cassandra's eyes fluttered, her vision unsure if she was seeing it right. "Jacob?" Stone, his eyes still closed, grunted as a response. She squinted, then turned her head to Jake. "I was the only one to decorate, correct? Baird didn't decorate, or Flynn or anyone?"

"Not that I know of. Why you askin'?"

"Well, because there's something above us that I might've not put there…"

He budged one eye open to see her. "What'd you mean 'might've not put there'? Did you, or didn't you?"

She rapidly shook her head, then looked back at him. Both his eyes were open now, their eyes locked, and she gulped. "I didn't."

"Then who would've…?"

Cassandra shrugged. "The only one I can think of is…" She sat back up, her spine straighter than before. Jacob stood, his eyes following hers. They both had the same thought, the same interconnected voice in their heads, saying the very same name.

"The Library." They announced in unison.

Jacob looked up to see what Cassandra hadn't hung up, and in his effort he let out a sudden, shocked cough - as if he choked on air. He brought his chin down and pounded on his chest. "That's, uh … that's mistletoe."

Cassandra slowly nodded, standing up beside him. "That it is." Cassandra found Jake's eyes again, his irises swimming in chocolate brown. Her breath caught in her chest once she realized how close they had become.

"It comes along with a tradition all the way back to Norse mythology…" Jacob didn't stop their closeness, his brow still furrowed over why the Library would hang mistletoe just willy-nilly. It then came to his attention the lack of space between the two of them, his breath catching in his throat. It was like something had come over him in that moment though, because he didn't back away, yet inched even closer. "It, uh, symbolizes life and ... um, well love."

Cassandra gave him a little smile, her gaze now fixed on his lips. "Does it now…" She shrugged. "I suppose, I mean, a tradition is a tradition..."

"Yeah, yeah," his gently placed a hand over her cheek, his thumb brushing her features. "Legend has it, whoever's under it is compelled to..."

Cassandra blinked, her nose touching his. "To...?"

They were so close it was almost unbelievable. I was watching from the balcony above, my head leaning over more and more until…

SLAM!

Cassandra and Jacob jumped back from their place, their hearts pounding in their chests.

"What was that?" Cassandra looked behind them to see a book sitting on the ground, the cover of Robin Hood shining for everyone to see. "Oh."

Stone scratched the back of his head, her other hand on his hip. "It uh, it must've fallen."

Red nodded. "It appears that way." She turned back to Stone, a puzzled look covering her face. "However, math and science tell me otherwise."

I just face palmed. Cassie was right, I was the reason it fell. Don't ever lean on books when trying to be as quiet as a mouse on a balcony.

Stone cleared his throat rather awkwardly and looked back up at the mistletoe. "I'll uh, I'll get that down."

Cassandra shut her eyes tight and bit her lip. "Right."

Great.

I then watched as Stone found a ladder, climbed up to jerk the mistletoe down from the balcony, and gently handed it to Cass. He sat back down in his lawn chair that Cassandra had set out for him, and the room became eerily silent.

I looked at my watch and I was pushing it on time. I better head down there and keep them from saying something amazingly awkward. After I visit my mum, then I can continue my mission. But for now… well now I get to see what Cassandra got me for Christmas.

* * *

I slammed the doors of the Back Door, turned around, and let out a deep breath. "Stone, Cassandra! I'm back!"

Who knows what they did without me, probably something beyond boring.

"Ezekiel?" Cassandra peeked her head around the corner, Stone quickly behind her. "Where did you go? We were worried!"

I raised a brow, a smirk on my face. "Stone was worried?"

"Yeah," Stone grunted. "I can be worried 'bout ya, Jones. I'm not made of metal or somethin'."

"Right," I laughed. "Guess he really does have a heart after all." Stone rolled his eyes at me, grunted again, and walked off grumbling something under his breath. I laughed again and looked at Red. "Suppose my journey to ask the Wizard for a heart was a waste."

"You shouldn't be so mean to him, Ezekiel." She shook her head at me, a disappointed but secretly amused expression.

"Me? Mean to Stone? The guy harps on me all day, I think I get the right to give him a taste of my own medicine every now and then."

Cassandra rolled her eyes, arms crossed across her chest. "He hasn't yelled at you today, has he?"

"Well…" I paused, realizing Cass was right. Stone had been nice to me all day… now that I think of it, all week. "Guess you got a point there."

"I'm just saying, Jake has been extra chipper lately, and you stepping on his toes and giving him a hard time doesn't help any of us."

I furrowed my brows, a sour look covering my face. "Chipper?"

Cassandra sighed and walked off, probably to find Stone. Cassandra was right of course, I should be nicer to the cowboy. However, that's not what's important right now. No, now, now I need to find myself more mistletoe.

* * *

Cassandra softly walked in the room, her eyes peering around the corner. Her lips turned up into a smile when she saw Stone sitting at a table, his nose in a book, his brow furrowed. "You okay?" she quietly asked, bringing Jake's attention solely on her. When Jacob saw her it was like his whole face brightened, his whole grumpy demeanor instantly melting away.

"Me? Ah, yeah, Jones doesn't get to me that easily."

Cassandra sat beside him, tiering over to see what he was reading. "Jacob Stone, are you reading something that's not non-fiction?"

He chuckled, closing it to show the cover of a science-fiction novel. "Thought I'd give it a chance. You always go on about how much you love this stuff."

"I have to say, I'm shocked. Last book I caught you reading that was considered fiction was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This isn't even by a known author."

"What can I say, we all gotta try somethin' new every now and then, don't we?"

"Yeah?" Cassandra leaned in, her cheek resting on her fist. "Even if it means it'll take you out of your comfort zone? Throw you into something that's so uncertain, so … risky? Something that the end is so undefined?"

Jake shrugged. "We all gotta take that leap someday. I reckon it's better now than never."

And at that, they both heard jingle bells above their heads. Both their chins raised to see, low and behold, a string of mistletoe hanging from a book shelf next to them. The way the table was positioned, and how they were seated, the mistletoe was right over their heads.

Cassandra blushed. "Again?" she practically squeaked.

Jacob growled. "Dang Library…" he grumbled to himself. He then quickly slammed his book shut and stormed off, away from the mistletoe, and away from Cassandra.

She sighed, looking at the mistletoe with a scowl. "You're not helping, you know." She then got up herself, leaving the room in a huff.

And with a ring of a bell, the mistletoe disappeared from sight.

* * *

"Ah ha!" I proclaimed, finding mistletoe buried beneath ribbons and bows in the bottom of Cassandra's Christmas boxes. "Jackpot."

"What'd you need that for?" Stone asked behind me, making me 'bout jump right out of my skin.

I turned to see him, trying to catch my breath as I said, "Watch it mate, next time I might just karate chop you for sneakin' up on a bloke like that."

Stone just blinked. "I'm shaking in my boots." He then pointed at the mistletoe. "What's that for?"

I looked at the evidence in my hand and winced. "Oh, this? This is just … Look, I'm going to be honest, all right?" Stone nodded. Here's goes nothing. "I didn't want Baird to find it and put it up so she'd have an excuse to kiss Flynn all the time, so I'm stealing it so I can burn it."

Stone watched me for a moment, then shrugged. "Have fun." He then swaggered off, seeming oddly relaxed for a Jacob Stone. I didn't have time to think about it though, I had to hang this up fast enough that Stone thinks it's impossible for me to be lying.

* * *

Jacob walked into the main room of the library, where the globe sat beside the Back Door and the ceiling seemed to go up for hours. He started to sit at his desk, one he had claimed more for himself just by his history books scattered all over it. Before he could actually sit down though, he heard Cassandra's heals marching in.

"Jacob,"

Jake froze, his face wincing. He was turned away from her, but he could hear her make her way around him so she could look him in the eyes. Once she was in his view she started her rant.

"We were in the middle of a conversation, and you just stormed off? How rude can you be? You know it's Christmas, Christmas is a time to treat people kindly and fairly – you were doing really well with that too, until you just ran off, as if I was the plague!"

"Cassie,"

"I mean, you can at least explain yourself before abandoning me in the depths of the library!"

"Cass."

"No, and another thing-"

"Cassandra," Jake bellowed out, finally causing Cassandra to quickly close her mouth and look at him like a deer in the head lights. Jacob sighed, sat down in his seat, and said, "I'm sorry, all right?"

She crossed her arms over her chest, let out a huff, and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "It was still rude."

"I know. I was just annoyed with the Library. It's pushier than I remembered, and its irritatin' the dang fire out of me."

She snickered at little. "The Library is just … festive." She said 'festive' with a squeak. She then took it upon herself to sit beside him, her arms unraveling from her rib-cage and letting them loose on the table beside them. "I mean, at least it enjoys Christmas traditions."

Jacob laughed. "Guess you got me there." He sighed, settling some in his seat. "You know, the tradition of mistletoe has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus at all. It really dates back to Norse mythology itself."

Cassandra smirked at him.

"What?"

"No, you just- well, you already told me that."

"Oh," he cleared his throat, ready to speak again. "Well, did I tell you it was the goddess of love, Frigg, who brought the tradition into place? Before her son, Baldur, died, she made it known to every plant and animal that they couldn't harm him. However, Frigg forgot to tell that to mistletoe. So, Loki, as devious as ever, used mistletoe as a weapon, killing Baldur."

Cassandra frowned. "Not seeing how that's romantic."

He chuckled. "Now ya see, Frigg was appalled of her son's death, and managed to bring him back from the dead. Because of her son's resurrection, instead of hatin' the mistletoe for his down fall, she blessed it because of his revival. She declared mistletoe to be a symbol of love, just like herself, and made it to where everyone felt compelled, or would be gifted, with a kiss if ya stood under the mistletoe."

"Wow," She scrunched up her nose, a grin over her face. "Seems even more sweet when a story like that goes along with it."

Cassandra then looked up, expecting to find the sight of mistletoe, but to instead to see Ezekiel hanging it on the floor above them. Her eyes widened, and Ezekiel caught her gaze and ducked. The mistletoe was now up, Ezekiel out of sight. Her long stare, though, brought Jake's attention up, which then brought a loud groan from his chest.

Before Cassandra could say anything, Jacob loudly yelled, "Jones!"

Cassandra bit her lip. He must've put it together long before she had.

"Jones! Come out here, I know it's you."

Then, without any warning, the front entrance of the Library opened; Ezekiel gliding his way in.

Stone and Cassandra stared at me with perplexed expressions. It was hilarious. They should see the looks on their faces. "Did I miss anything?"

Stone ran a hand through his hair. "How did you-? So, you didn't…?" He looked up at the mistletoe, then back at me.

I laughed. "Sorry mate, not much for romance myself."

"Where were you?" Cassandra asked suspiciously.

"Burning all the mistletoe. Or, thought anyway." I eyed the mistletoe up above them and laughed again. "Better pucker up, Stone."

Jacob glared at me and quickly raged up from his chair, storming out of the room with a growl the whole way. I whistled, my head turning to see Cassandra giving me a death glare. Honestly, I didn't know Red could even _give_ death glares.

"What's with him?" I acted innocent as I leaned on Santa's sleigh behind me. However, she knew better. Cassandra just got up from her seat and walked out, probably after Stone again. I myself stood there, in awe of myself for pulling that off. After a moment of reflecting on my awesomeness, I soon followed behind them to offer them some Christmas cheer. I got them laughing and happy again, that is until we walked back in the main room - to check on the sleigh - to realize the globe for the Back Door was _missing_.

* * *

Cassandra sat at a table in the Library, her cheek resting on her fist, her eyes staring down at a book she had no interest in whatsoever. She couldn't stop thinking about Jake. She didn't get it, in Canada they had almost kissed _twice_. The second time was completely all him! But today, today he had acted like the idea of kissing her annoyed him.

They had finally fixed everything. Santa's brother was no longer any threat, and the three of them had managed to get the sleigh back without a scratch. Ezekiel was who-knows-where now, flying it around with his mom. She normally would be extremely worried, but this time she had faith in Ezekiel – he knew what he was doing.

No, now she was hiding in the back of the Library, her thoughts solely on _him_ , and yes, she was hiding from him as well. They had worked together all day; the looks Jake gave her … she just knew he felt the same way she did. Yet, here she was, hiding because every time they talked in the Library the whole situation would get rather awkward. Mistletoe awkward, to be exact. She wouldn't deny she was beyond annoyed. If not for just the fact that Jake was acting so weird about mistletoe and kissing her, but for the fact that Ezekiel couldn't just leave them alone and have a normal, innocent conversation.

She thought back to the day, remembering even to when they were under the table at the bank and how close they were. How many times Jacob had to keep himself from looking at her mouth for too long. Cassandra wasn't crazy, she knew it. Jacob felt the same way she did, yet he just was in way more denial over it.

"Cassie?"

Cassandra sunk in her chair. She winced, her bottom lip bit down on. She sighed before saying, "Yeah?"

Jake appeared around a corner, a soft smile on his face. "Hey there,"

Her voice brought butterflies to her stomach. "Hey," she squeaked out.

"You all right?" He strolled over to the table. He grabbed a chair beside her and sat down. "Once we came through the Back Door you seemed off."

She was fine until Jake came through instead of Ezekiel. She was going to yell at Ezekiel for a while, but seeing Jake and the thought that they were going to be all alone in the Library? She got weirdly and embarrassingly nervous and ran out.

She shrugged. "M'fine. I'm just tired, I suppose. Been a long day."

He nodded. "Can't argue with that." He leaned on the table and gave Cassandra a long look before saying, "Look, I'm sorry, Cass."

Cassandra was holding her breath before she said, "Why?"

Jake scoffed. "You know why. I've been a real idiot lately, losin' my temper and stormin' off. I haven't acted much like myself 'round the Library today and I just … I wanted to apologize."

Cassandra gave him a smile, her head leaning more into the table. "You don't have to apologize for anything, Jacob. I get it." She placed her hands on the table, her gaze on Jake and Jake alone. "Really, I do."

"I just gotta say …" he stared at her for a moment, as if words were escaping him. He reached to grab her hand, Cassandra feeling her pulse speed up to an unhealthy rate. He opened his mouth to speak, when a jingle was heard from above. They both looked up, a thing of mistletoe literally floating above them.

"That ain't even subtle." He chuckled.

Cassandra giggled. "Maybe the Library is getting us confused with Baird and Flynn."

Jake looked at her, his eyes soft, his smile gentle and sincere. "I don't think it is."

Jake then stood up and leaned in towards her. Cassandra couldn't breathe, unsure of what was happening. Her eyes shut closed, and it wasn't until she felt Jake leave a peck of a kiss on her cheek that her eyes squinted back open.

Another jingle was heard and both their chins rose up to look and to see the mistletoe gone from sight.

Jacob looked at Cassandra, his face so close to hers Cassandra could have kissed him right then and there. "Merry Christmas, Cassandra." He said in his low voice. He then stood straight up, and walked away.

And at that moment, she was pretty sure her heart had stopped beating completely.

* * *

 _Sorry, its a short one. I just really loved that episode, and I wanted to add some more Jassandra along with it. Hope you guys enjoyed! There will be a few more chapters, not sure if I'll add any more fillers, and just post the final ending. Can't decide yet._

 _Hope you guys have a wonderful New Year!_


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